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SLAVERY IN SOUTH CAROLINA 



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AND 




THE EX-SLAA*. 



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OR, 




THE PORT ROYAL MISSION 



BY MRS. A. M. FRENCH, 

EDITEESS OP THE "BEAUTY OF HOLINESS." 



" Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these. 
ey brethren, ye have done it unto me." 



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NEW YOEK: 
WINCHELL M. FRENCH, 5 BEEKMAN STREET. 

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$7F 



EhtERED, according to Act of Congress, In the year 1862, by 

WINCHELL M. FRENCH, 

fc the Office of the Clerk of the United States Court, for the Southern District of 

New York. 



By transfer 

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PAOS 

Ihtrodcction ... '. Tii 

CHAPTER I.— PORT ROYAL. 

.' ledical Sea — Bay Point — Hilton Head— Coast — Africans — Guilt— Self-implicated — 
Country— Contrabands — Faces — Hawks — Sea Birds— Manhood — Excited stare.... 18 

CHAPTER II.— THE FIRST CONTRABANDS. 

Plantation Boat — Consciousness of ungainly self— Sly, keen Observation — Secresy — 
First Congregation — Concealed Sorrow — Life drawn out , 17 

CHAPTER III.— THE LAND OF TEARS. 

The Ship Atlantic — Feelings — Government— Kidnap — All easrer — Aground — Supper 

Song— White trash — Shoe Blacks and Rag Pickers— Whittier's Poem— At Port 
Royal 19 

CHAPTER IV.— MEETING ON BOARD. 
Sketch of Addresses by E. L. Pierce and Rev. Mr. French— Shock of contact with V 
Slavery — Drivers — Evils remedied — Independence — Freedmen — Lash prohibited — • 
Setting upon a Barrel — Parents restrained — Military punishment — Untried mis- 
sion — Idle, roaming — Sensitive — Patronizing and real Friends — One interest — 
Doubt, dignity — The Acres of humanity— Excitement — Not adapted — Crushed 
Child — Cruel failures — Experience 25 

CHAPTER V.— LANDING. 

Beaufort — Mist — Sandy streets — Foundations — Fires— Spirits — Desolation — Dr. Peck's 
home — Servants — Breakfast — -Dr. Edwards' descendant— Vegetation — Buildings — 
Thrift— Robin — Slavery's echoes— Ghosts — Cradle — Mistress — Wholesale dealer — 
Innocents — God silent — Watering place — Dress — Expenses — Wine 30 

CHAPTER VI.— FIRST CONVERSE WITH EX-SLAVES. 

Reverence — Servant — Religious state — Silver — Daughter's sorrow — Field-hand — ■ 
Drudge — Desire to see Masters — Free — Trusting— God able — School — Sabbath- 
school — Patience — Liberating Power — Presentiments 34 

CHAPTER VII.— BEAUFORT. 

Slaves and Souls of men— Merchants — Every ship-master — City of two centuries- 
Buildings — Gardens — Streets — Parades — Tide— Walls — Buildings— Suburbs — Monu- 
ments — Churches — Aristocracy — Quarters — Saint— Rags — Table — Visitors — Archi- 
tecture — Dark faces — -Turbans — Curses — Nonsense 37 

CHAPTER VIII.— VEGETATION OF THIS LATITUDE. 

Spirit of Slavery — Trees — Weeds — Sand— Live-oaks — Cactus — Fragrance — Forests — 
No union — Beauty— Over-topping — Maples — Locusts— Respect of the Colored- 
Child's answer 41 

CHAPTER IX.— GOVERNMENT'S TIME AND CLAIMS. 

Houesty — Government tables — Writing — Dignity — Chinking — Dishonor— Edifice — 
Inequalities — Hard pressure — Scheme — Ark — Miriams— Rewriting — Awful subject 
— Faithful pictures — Poverty 44 

CHAPTER X.— CRUELTY REIGNS. 

Voice — Birds— Horses — Cows and dogs — Aged women— Neber had but one— Chil- 
dren — Babies — Field-hand women — The dying boy — Heavenly Father take dis, 
I praise him — White father— Tea— Rags — Clean — Lady of luxury— Dehumanizing — 
Birds — Theft — Honest table — Millennium and slavery — Woman and punishment — ■ 
Spirit of Washington — The murder — Massah's power over life — Loss of property a 
preventive ? 46 

iii 



iv CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER XT.— THE MISSION TO PORT ROYAL. PAGB 

Discouragements— Elev:it,'d by oppressors— Lies— Sold by Christians— Obstacles im- 
mense— No God — The two angels— New trophies 62 

CHAPTER NIL— THE VACANT HOMES. 
Sacred by events— Words— Reliefs— Sorrows— Tears 'nough to wash dis flo'— Tender 
fori -ltebellion— Occupied sadly in their behalf— No personal hatred- 
Sin and suffering joined— Reports of burning alive— Slavery a forbidden topic 54 

CHAPTER XIII.— SLAVERY A SEALED BOOK. 

Sealed to many within its precincts— Aggravated cases — Inured to hide feelings — 
.Must tell strangers — Strangers deceived — The Senator's lady's story— Soldiers — 
Dark places — Law at South Carolina — Deception — Visitors — The padlock — From 
sun to sun — Sabbath — Reports of DeVesey's rebellion — Reading character — Tact — 
Indescribable— Sympathizing talk — Deaths — Proofs — Live but five years — Writers 
deceived 4 '. 66 

CHAPTER XIV.— SLAVERY A VICE. 

Holds victims — Passions — Power gained by dollars at slave pens — Love of domineer- 
in- -Tights— Horrify— Picture of Congressman— Treat Negroes long whip- 
:e for artist — Contempt dreaded — Virtues shrivel into vices — Child 
urer — Victims — Life as nothing — Nation murderers or no slavery — Robbery — • 
Discomfort— Intermarriages of relatives — Forty innocents — Reason given C6 

CHAPTER XV.— SLAVES nELD FROM NECESSITY. 
Kind opposed— Propitiating their demon— Both twilights— Massah broken-hearted— 
Mi : , test— Oder people— M ssus pray to die 'for do war— Die— Thomas Jef- 
011 imploring— Daughters sold, Harem— Coerced to Africa— Dr. Nelson— 
Tears -Yi a —Trying support at the North— Periodicals— Music— Pleading- 
Bosom of God T4 

CHAPTER XVI.— BOND AND FREE SERVANTS. 

Prison — Drive on in minutiae — Abortive efforts — Lash not effective power — Northern 
lady— Southern— Bride — Testimony— Murder no one's business— Shirking 79 

CHAPTER XVII.— FREE LABOR. 

Remedy— Military— Cloudy future— Stating the case— Sudden development— Effects 
—Colored and White laborers — Begins at creation 82 

CHAPTER XYIIL— HEART SERVICE. 

Sweetness of being freely served — Driving — Dignified to be ruled by slaves — Life- 
kin, of mind — Meanest services — Bind to the bar of God — Weary fellow- 
Ing — Scriptures — All imprecations — Thankfully beg — Slaves or life — 
Negroes? — Be their servants — Two cases— First blessings — Servants 
when free — Iuibruted Mistress — Whippings — Dr. Howe's account— Publicity S5 

CHAPTER XIX.— SOUTHERN CHIVALRY. 

Curse glancing and falling— Heaven fuller— Woman— Barbaric nations — Chal- 
lenge to the world — Girls must marry — Affectionate race — Look admiration — No 
censure— Marr'u-d in matrimony — ("arther Soutb -Avarice — Facts— 'Lowed to drop 
hoe -Bring mud up from riber— Basia of slaveholders' dignity — Awful suffering— 
his hand— Government dash hopes 92 

CHAPTER XX.— INCIDENTS IN SLAVE WOMAN'S LIFE. 
Case of the slave woman — Buried alive — Case of young girl — Mother dies— Mistress — 
Charities— Other punishments for the crime of not being able to work— Born in 
liel' 99 

CHAPTER XXL— RESULTS TO POOR WOMAN. 

Where ?— Under clods of the valley— Few old women— Exceptions— Image of Jesus- 
Marks of death— Graves — Greenwood— Martyrs 108 

CHAPTER XXII.— WOMAN AND CIVILIZATION. 

Fh>M labor in Women and Civilization impossible— Never seen — Show on Sunday — 
/ (fference— Ambition— Perseverance — God hath arisen 105 



CONTEXTS. 



CHAPTER XXIII— CRUSHED INTELLECTS. pagb 

Crushed by blow — neavy terror, stupefied— Instance— Noble driver — Suffering to 
serve others — Brain— Resurrection 108 

CHAPTER XXIV.— THE INNER LIFE OF THE PIOUS. 

Transformed — Judges— Seal of God— Sanctified— Heart-breaking— Noble govern- 
ment — Not sex, or woman considered, but color — Women drivers — Work faster — 
Desire to suffer with them — The people blamed — Voters responsible Ill 

CHAPTER XXV— THE GENIUS OF SLAYEDOM. 

Treachery in everything— Spell— Wierd, confused feelings — Examine — Confusion as 
to all ownership— Illustration — Travellers — Lost power — Dishonesty recognized — 
Arabs 115 

CHAPTER XXVI.— AVARICE OR POVERTY. 

Parsimoniousness — Poverty — Barbadoes — Jamaica — Account-books — Servants — 
Good days — Oaths— Ministers— Weighing 118 

CHAPTER XXVII— EMBITTERED SPRINGS. 

Religion a torture — Manhood — Philosopher — Contempt — Hatred — Separations — 
Avenues 123 

CHAPTER XXVIII.— THE APOSTLES OF SLAVERY. 

Preachers 'lowed nothing but for Massah — Dr. Nelson's Testimony — Worse than 
none — Curse — The owner — Minister — Dignity— Common sense — Mr. May's testi- 
mony — Dragging slave to death — .Minister and son — Cotered ministers — God in 
the soul — Humility - 126 

CHAPTER XXIX.— PRAYERS OF THE EX-SLAVES. 

Effort to gam them — Force — Failure— Not suffered to lie down when sick— Voice — 
Mus' pray— Fort 133 

CHAPTER XXX.— AMALGAMATION. 

Follower of slavery— Strangers— Oberlin— Races separate naturally— Col. Johnson 
—Fervor — No shadow of amalgamation — Incident— Purity — Fitness— Outrages — 
Bleaching ground ., 135 

CHAPTER XXXI.— OUT OF LYING. 

Satanic— Harness shape of men — Live patriot — Cannibals — Call on Devil — Soldier's 
liberties— Child killed— Lincoln's portrait — Laugh 140 

CHAPTER XXXII.— MANLINESS. 

Foundation— Shame — Principles — Covered with welts— Whip mother — Little girls — 
Crime of sleeping — Sees Jesus — Coming — Master — Listening — Nobility — Sale — 
Who the least ?— Disgraced ? — Nearer than angels 145 

CHAPTER XXXIII.— ENERGY OF THE COLORED. 

Developed early — Hide in mud— Travellers— Superhuman — Thinking dangerous — 
Poisonous lizard — 'Spectable — Coat — Wits — Peter learning to read — Washington. 153 

CHAPTER XXXIV.— NEGRO QUARTERS. 

All works belie the Negro— False light— Contemptible falsehood — Apartments- 
Great effort— Home— Pro-slavery visitor— Awful huts— Martyrs to Chastity— Tor- - 
ture — Furniture — Filth— Villainous darkness— Cast out — F. R. Association — Im- 
provements—Altar for lash 159 

CHAPTER XXXV.— PREJUDICE AGAINST COLOR. 

Epithets— Impressible— Dr. Phillip — Thomas Pringle— Beauty— Grace— Create expec- 
tations — England — Victoria — Moral standing — Deacons in tow — Cruelty at 
Donelson 106 

CHAPTER XXXVI.— THE SOUTHERNER. 

Character— Hospitality— System — Job— Paul— Less money — Gains — Yale College — 
Body-guard — Gives up— Gains— Ashamed of ancestors 172 

CHAPTER XXXVII.— INNER AND OUTER LIFE. 

Anguish quivers — Real life — Corn burn up — Emotion — Life not regarded — Hedges — 
Unintentional reproof— Dea' sojer3 176 



VI CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER XXXVIII.— THE TRUE DEBASEMENT. PAGE 

Not Belf-righteous— Miracle— Woman's Testimony— Unblushing calumnies— Why ex- 
citable— Adepts— Curst— Crazy— Not look sorry— True virtue 180 

CHAPTER XXXIX.— HEART CHASTITY. 

Eniffma— All cities— Purity— Counterfeit— Amazed— Virtue and vice— A language— 
Jewels -Soul God's— Aunty— Docility— Broadway— Sweet letter— Weak— False 
Coloring— Carousal— Wine— Task and whip for chastity— Delicacy— Disgust 1S4 

CHAPTER XL.— NORTHERN CHIVALRY. 

Opinion of Southern ladies— Standard— Concealed wounds— Wretched families— 
iniac— Broken-hearted— Praying for death— President Madison's sister— Devil- 
ish power— Delusions— Moral power— England's emancipating— Malignity— Pure 
homes— Foulest slander— Licentiousness North— Heart agonies— Washington's 

ig "4 

CHAPTER XLI.— THE TASK-MASTERS. 
Gad-defying D.D.'s delegated— Law of South Carolina— 400 lashes— Wish for death 
—Will— Baptist minister— 14 pounds— Work— My physician— Warning— Lawful 
killing — 71 offences punished by death 206 

CHAPTER XLII.— TRUTHFULNESS OF THE COLORED. 
Serene Congressman — Colored woman — nope come to bury me— Leave all with Jesus 
— Boy's caution — New Yorkers — Bostonians — Deep, mysterious — Men or books?.. 214 

CHAPTER XLIII.— KNOWLEDGE OF THE COLORED. 
Case supposed— Toussaint— The chaplain— Quarrels— Exceptions— Sewell— 93 free- 
men doing the labor of 225 -1 aves— Britons— Resemblance of monkeys— Rosseau 
—Lawrence— Dr. Tiedeman— Blaumeubach— Watson— Oaths— Sabbath— Thieving. 213 

CHAPTER XLIV.— SHALL THE BOND GO FREE? 
Wrong question— Deacon Davis— Is you loose?— Apprenticeship— Self-reliant— Bar- 
badoes— Notables 240 

CHAPTER XL V.— APPRECIATION OF ALL MEN. 
Fondness — Popular heart — Caterers South— Merit— Humboldt — Wesley— Wilber- 
force— Aunt Mary— Moffat— Park 246 

CHAPTER XLVI.— THE WASTE OF LIFE. 
Patrick nenry— Overseers— Life and labor — Death in basket — All dead— Womanhood. 255 

CHAPTER XL VII.— INGRATITUDE. 
Instances of— Amo— Princess of Brunswick — Drs. Madden and Chamberlaine— 

260 

CHAPTER XLYIII— IS WOMAN WOMAN? 
Depression— Duped— Thousand-fold better than sang— A case — Sacrificing hands — 
Economy — Dr. Reed 266 

CH \PTKR XLIX— ABSENTEES. 
Tyrants— D.D.'fl villainous course— Cotton— Virginian— Massah kill, torture— 
Suicides— Nation 272 

CHAPTER L.— THE BITTERNESS OF SLAVERY. 
Channing— Temptation— Defying God— All drivers— Slavery doomed— Boys trained 
— Offieer— White trash 277 

CHAPTER LI.— UNSANCTIFIED INDIGNATION. 

Government— Tyranny— Liberty— Pulpit— Blasted Manhood— Features of Times— 
Pharisees— John Brown— Colonization— Jay— Wilberforce— McAuley— Hay ti 2S4 

CHAPTER IiII.— HUNTER'S PROCLAMATION. 
Rejoicing— Aunt— A man— Blessings on Hunter— Choristers— Land Transformed — 

Economy °04 

CHAPTER LITE— CAPTURE AND PASSAGE. 
Afri.-a— Dance— Home— Gustavu< V;i a l ; nuy— Ellsworth— Baker— Lyon— Win- 
Uirop— Harlans— Lovejoys — Whittle! — Colored 809 



INTRODUCTION 

Surely, there is a line of right somewhere ; surely, there 
are principles of right necessarily eternal, since God 
is; surely, these principles cannot change; surely, circum- 
stances, cannot reach or affect them; surely, there m 
"be laws enforcing those principles ; surely, af the princi- 
ples are eternal, the laws cannot change; surely, they 
must have the strength of the Administration, as a pledge 
of their execution ; surely, they must respect all beings 
alike, must apply to the minutest action. Surely, then, 
every action must be with, or against those laws, must com- 
pel their eternal approval, "or penalty, every action calling 
upon the laws of eternal justice for the "well done," or the 
penalty. Surely that award, must be as eternal, as the sin, 
and those laws. Surely a Mediator makes no escape from 
them. He is not the minister of sin. He only makes obedi- 
ence possible to us. He establishes, the law, dies ! that we 
be forgiven, cleared of its past records, cleansed, and com- 
pelled to break it no more, through the power that 
death provides. All this adds awful weight, and dignity, 
to that law, renders disobedience an eternal insult, not 
only to the law, but to that Mediator, that tenderest 
grace, that costliest sacrifice. So that disobedience is £n 
insult, not only to the law, which cannot forgive, over- 
look, or fail in penalty, but to that grace, that de 
that offering of soul for sin. Surely, then, God, his 1 , 
his sacrifice, cannot be slighted, without full penalty. 
Surely that penalty must be exacted alike of each rational 
being. Man must be left free to break that law, else no 
free obedience could he render, from his not being free, or 
able to disobey. Evidently, when he knows that there ia 
grace provided for him, and offered freely, and available, 
he is alone responsible for having that grace. 

Inevitably, then, he stands upon one, or the other side 
of this law, is this moment condemned or approved, and 



INTRODUCTION. 

every action at once ranges itself on one or the other 
of this law, and by it, he is this moment justified or 
c ' ! uned. 

God's own image is the sacredest thing upon earth, 
•nan was made in it. But man is free to show how 
. -ill treat that image, perfectly free, or he could not 
perfectly guilty. As he treats that man, that image 
• od, he treats God. Mortal cannot sever the oneness 
exists between God and his own. It is an indwelling 
but more, it is an actual oneness, in one vital, spiritual life. 
I is then driven forth, tasked, beaten, killed. God is 
sold, bought, defiled. There is no escape. God is in 
that man or that woman, and you cannot put him out. 
Hortal cannot sunder that one life, lie says, "Inasmuch 
c did it unto them, ye did it unto me." You do that 
to-day. Slaveholder, with its light you began anew to 
despoil God, or give freedom and liberty to that one. 
If he say voluntarily, being entirely free, u I will labor 
for you, for so much," and you accord freedom to him 
in every way, you are free from the penalty, the sin of 
compelling God. If you hold him, and pay him a thou- 
1, yea, a million fold more, still you enslave God. It 
tot how you treat him, or how he feels, but do you 
hold him ? He may do very little, but do you compel 
him ? or virtually or by influence? For if, in addition 
to robbing the body, you rob the soul, or mind, how 
much M-orse. If you can so influence a human being as' 
to lead him to say, " I will be a slave ;" if you can in- 
fuse that influence, what robbery of God ! If that one 
actually prefer your service, you can make him legally 
. so that you can lift your hand to God, and say, "I 
< ipelj enslave, uo man. I do not enslave God in man. 
- i not insult God in his image, in the worst, nor in his 
actual presence, in the best." Is it not well to know 
what those laws actually require? You and I must 



LNTKODUCTION. IX 

stand alone, face to face, with these great truths, and 
facts, and God, and eteenity ! Is there not a safe side 1 

This woek is a fruit of sorrow, of duty clear, of adverse 
temptations great, of responsibility eternal, of hope in 
self, or in man little, of faith in God, as a grain of mus- 
tard seed. It is put forth, in the prolonged absence in 
the service of his brother, country. Maker, of him who 
has been the dear staff of tliirty years, whose concurring 
convictions urge us on, in the work, whose judgment in 
regard to publishing different articles has saved our lite- 
rary life, from most worry, wear, and care. For witnesses 
of the truth of the facts, we refer to different members of 
the mission, of the military, and civilians. In but one 
case, have later developments thrown a shadow of doubt. 
That is of the Congressman, whose father, it seems it was, 
who feasted upon the Mondays' whippings. We could 
take you, gentle reader, to the spot where it, and nearly 
all these incidents, occurred. "With pain and shame have 
we recorded these things which, were the cause only 
removed, were better — or more honorably to our nation — 
forgotten. But something must arouse the ladies of the 
North, for if we can get the strong influence at the fire- 
side right, all will soon be done. The object in this 
writing, and in the cuts, is to make deep, vivid impres- 
sions. We regret that we have served the cause of the 
Colored, so poorly, but cannot dishonor our sense of 
duty, by saying we could have done better, under all the 
circumstances. Parts of the work, have been stereotyped 
two months, which is an age now, upon this question. 
Still, pro-slaveryism is rampant, and the balances unset- 
tled. Upon which shall preponderate, depends the future 
of this nation. Agonizing, may be our future remorse, in 
dark days, or in the dying ! of our nation, unless the sweet 
whisper of the spirit is " Tou did what you could." 



K INTRODUCTION. 

There is humanity, to appreciate, a great wrong, and 
that can be moved to compassion by a great anguish, by 
brave endurance, by perfect Christian patience ; there 
are, everywhere, hearts that revolt against tyranny, 
cruelty, oppression ; there is in noble man feeling for 
innocent childhood ; for tender woman ; there is sense 
of justice, of manhood. How can these principles, be 
mightily moved in the masses ? for the Colored % How 
can the minds of many who imagine they understand 
slavery, be disabused, and brought to protest against the 
crime ? Well intentioned, but faultering measures will 
not answer, now ; none but the strongest, sternest, unsel- 
fishest. How can the masses be brought up to the noble 
holy work ? Ah let them see slavery not in confused 
masses, odious from being so colossal, but in individuals, 
in facts — so we write, where even Elliot, Cheever, Stowe, 
Goodell, Jay, Douglass, have nobly written — sent home, 
by the Author of light, and love. The character of the 
candid man is not settled, or stereotyped. Best, noblest, 
philanthropists, may yet arise from the Border States, or 
even farther South, to bless their country ! and race. 

Wonderfully did God provide helpers for this precious 
mission. Some of the ablest of men in New York, Bos- 
ton, and Philadelphia, gave their best powers, energies, 
and time, to this work. Ministers plead for it, people 
wept, prayed, and gave, for it ; Government spread the 
strong, and now, most honored and prized, military power 
over it. They were required to be protective : they have 
been chivalrous, generous, brotherly. Caj>tain Eldridge, 
of the Atlantic, laid us under eternal tribute of gratitude 
for his gentlemanly care and kindness, seconded by 
Government officers. From our first introduction to the 
Military, we have received the utmost chivalric and gen- 
tlemanly attention from them. On our voyage, Lieut. 
West would come down, and, standing in the aisle be- 



INTRODUCTION. XI 

tween our state-rooms, would call out, "Ladies, ladies! 
it will never, never do ! for you to give up to sea-sickn 
so. You must come on deck. Come, come ! get read}', 
and come out, and I will help you on deck." After re- 
peated efforts, all finally reached the deck, where most 
took tea, engaged in conversation, reading, singing of 
many patriotic and Christian songs, then closing, with 
prayer, a pleasant evening, which had otherwise closed 
most sadly and unwholesomely in our rooms. 

The presence of Mrs. Senator Harlan was providential. 
Though recent sore bereavement, and delicate health, 
much influenced her noble husband, in consenting to 
spare her, still, her deep interest in the mission, excellent 
manners, and good sense, made her presence and pres- 
age, of great value in its feeble commencement. 

Of other beloved members of this mission we had 
spoken individually, taking Paul for a sanction of com- 
mendation, but, by request, we leave the pure white page, 
upon which all may read their humility and worth. 

The kindness and fostering care, since our arrival of 
that excellent and able man, General Stevens, could not 
be surpassed ; also so far as requisite of Generals Sherman, 
Saxton, and Com. Dupont. General Stevens, in his highly 
valued calls, was frequently attended by his lovely and 
most excellent lady, who, like her husband, ever mani- 
fested a deep interest. Nothing that was required to be 
done for our honor, comfort, or success, that his Aids : Pro- 
vost Marshal Belcher, or Commissary Gregory, and other 
noble officers, could do, has been omitted. In our feeble 
and persecuted mission, this attention we feel far more 
than we can express, and can only return our most ardent 
prayers. To appreciate this kindness, one must know all. 

The following list of the first company, who went 
out under the auspices of the "Freedman's Belief As- 
sociation," we give, regretting we have not later arrivals : 



Xll 



INTRODUCTION. 



E. L. Pierce, Special Agent of Treasury Department ; 
Eev. M. French, Agent of " National Freedman's Belief 
Association;" David Mack, Eev. Nathan It. Johnson, 
Samuel D. Philips, Eev. Isaac W. BrinkerhorT, William 
T. Clarke, George B. Peck, Daniel Bowe, Edmund Price, 
Frederick A. Eustis, John D. Lathrop, James E. Taylor, 
Drury F. Cooper, "William E. Park, Bobert N. Smith, 
Edward W. Hooper, Edward S. Philbrick, Henry II. 
Cowdery, Wm. C. Gannett, George H. Blake, Dr. James 
P. Greves, Prof. John C. Zachas, John T. Ashley, Dr. 
A. Judson Wakefield, James F. Sisson, George C. Fox, 
Isaac W. Cole, James W. E.. Hill, James H. Palmer, 
John H. Brown, Lyman Nolton, Albert Bellamy, David 
F. Thorpe, T. Edwin Buggies, James M. F. Howard, 
Francis E. Barnard, Dr. James Waldock, Bichard Soule, 
jr., Leonard Wesson, Dr. Chas. H. Brown, Ninian Nivin. 
Ladies. — Hon. Mrs. James Harlan, Mrs. Walter E. John- 
eon, Mrs. Elizabeth B. Hale, Mrs. Mary Nicholson, Miss 
Susan Walker, Miss Mary A. Donaldson, Miss Hannah 
Curtis, Miss Elizabeth Peck, Miss Mary A. Waldock, 
Miss E. H. Winsor, Miss M. Hale, Mrs. A. M. French. 
Thus far the mission is a perfect success. 

As to future waefare, in this holy cause, let us all 
Bay in the words of Eev. E. P. Lovejoy — whose auto- 
graph we here give — editor of the " Observer," Alton, 111., 
in his last address before martyrdom ! to the pro-slavery 
mobs, thirsting for his blood : " As I shall answer it, to 
my God, in the great day, I dare not abandon my senti- 
ments, or cease in all right ways to propagate them." 



SLAVERY IN SOUTH CAROLINA 



AND THE 



EX-SLAVES. 



-»-•-•- 



CHAPTER I, 



POET ROYAL. 



Oh, for a world in principle as chaste 
As this is gross and selfish ; over which 
Custom and prejudice shall bear no sway, 
That governs all things here, shouldering aside 
The meek and modest Truth, and forcing her 
To seek a refuge from the tongue of Strife 
In nooks obscure, far from the ways of men ! 

Cowper 

After four days of sea and sky, with the medical 
treatment of the former, and the varying moods — all 
ending in smiles — of the latter, we arrived off Bay Point, 
a seeming thin line of white sand, curving out into the 
sea and looking as if the next wave would erase it.' Be- 
low, in the far distance, is Hilton Head, crowned with its 
fort, and looking in the distance like an immense brick- 
yard, with awnings stretched over parts of it. But now, 
six weeks later, it has a long pier extending into the 
river, a fine large hospital crowns the shore, and with 

18 



li SLAVERY IN SOUTH CAROLINA AND THE EX-SLAVES. 

new buildings, and many more erecting, it looks quite 
freedom-like. Between these places is Fort Royal Inlet, 
the mouth of Broad Fiver. 

The semicircular coast looks from the ship, to be of 
three terrace lines. First above the blue waves is a 
bank of snow-white sand of several feet; next, a grey 
belt, composed of the bare and even trunks of the 
standing pines, of twice the height of the sand-shore ; and, 
above these, the green pine-tops, rising to twice the 
height of the trunks, in a clear feathery line, against the 
fiue sky ; an oppressive beauty, quiet, sameness, however, 
being the general effect of the whole. You look with 
strange feelings upon that coast. You think of the 
cargoes of poor Africans who have gazed upon it for the 
first time, as you now do, with not a hope, an aim, a 
friend, having already taken, in the awful hold of the 
slave-ship, their first lessons from the southern mission- 
aries, stealing even a false Christianity. You think of 
those poor fugitives who have, in so many ways, dared 
those guilty waters— guilty waters, we say, for every- 
thing, even nature itself, seems becoming guilty. Why 
else have the sea and the earth swallowed out of sight 
their tears and blood, conniving against them with man ? 
As you gaze, and gaze, and think, the weird Spirit of 
Slavery comes to greet you — a vitalized reality — and 
cooly takes possession of you, of mind, fancy, feeling, as 
if they were an old habitation, and hatints you, through 
every change, and every department of your residence. 
Just now, she is tauntingly singing in your ear, " Land 
of the free, and home of the brave," or " Hail Columbia, 
happy land." There steals over you the feeling that you 
are passing under a great cloud of accumulated wrongs, 
in which you seem mysteriously implicated, the vague 
feeling that you yourself have done something awful, 



I NOT INNOCENT — CONTRABANDS — KOBBEKY — GUILT. 15 

somewhere in the dim past. You say, Who am I ? and 
assure yourself that, for twenty years, you have been in 
the head and front of the offending against slavery. But 
who lias done it ? My country. And is not my country 
myself ? But I could have done no more that I can see 
against it ! could I ? Let's see. You try to think of 
instances, once mountainous, in which you have suffered, 
in mind, estate, reputation, and more deeply in affections, 
in opposing this sin. But they are suddenly and strangely 
dim, in the dark overshadowing of the mighty wrong. 
You can scarcely recall them. " Yes," you admit, " I am 
a part of my country, and I in it, and with it, have done 
this. I! who had so long considered myself, with mine, 
almost martyrs to opposition to this awful wrong. We ! 
at last, not innocent ?" Yes, so it is. Every effort should 
have been far, far, more strenuous. Look at those poor 
"contrabands" in that boat! How plainly they show, 
that not an effort to crush the manhood, yea, the grace 
of God ! out of them, has been spared. And the awful 
robbery of all, except what the soul grasps and holds, in 
spite of the Master, can never, never, be compensated, for 
with many of them life is waning. The garment of invi- 
sibility seems dropping from all forms of cruelty. Slavery 
is written upon the dark line between every ripple, into 
which the bright protesting wave, after a moment's 
resistance, subsides. Slavery is written upon the shore, 
the trees, the sky, the air. You see it in the faces of 
these men coming on board. Is it because you look so 
queer, and excited, and guilty, that they do ? The enor- 
mous black hawks, with their screams, seem to be its very 
spirits. ISTo wonder they caw, caw, over this land — mean 
vultures, waiting for blood. 

You look for the beautiful white sea-birds, so constant 
in all your voyage ; they are now far away in the dis- 



16 SLAVERY IN SOUTH CAROLINA AND THE EX-SLAVES. 

tance, just skimming the open sea that looks toward 
freedom. You wonder that good and true men dared to 
alight upon these shores when slavery was in full bloom. 
You do not wonder that, seeing they came and remained, 
they usually parted with their fancied manhood here. 
You seem tempted to lose confidence in man, in your- 
self, in God. How could he by whom every violet is 
individually clad, suffer such evils so long? ISTo wonder 
that the dwellers here could not speak anywhere upon 
any topic without babbling of slavery. The sprite would 
not let them, but threw, and threw, it into every caul- 
dron, stained every thought, and fancy, and feeling with 
it, by a decree men cannot pass. We have found it 
inconvenient enough for twenty years to be possessed of 
an abolition zeal ; but it was nothing to a slavery sprite, 
even under her broken reign. Our company, or the 
impressible, too, have an excited stare. Yes, they are all 
enduring those -peculiar feelings of which we have since 
heard so much, yet which words cannot paint. It seemed 
like passing into a land of horrid dark dreams, or dim 
memories of the agonies of centuries. Now, from this 
moment, every one must be more or less, a man. It is 
inevitable. These are positive influences, you mus* rise 
or sink under them. Every one's sense of right and 
wrong must here, be vitalized, or blighted. 



chapter n. 

THE FIRST CONTRABANDS. 

" He shall judge the poor of the people. He shall save the 
children of the needy and shall break in pieces the oppressor." 

— Psalm lxxii., 4. 

The first contrabands we saw, were six men, in a 
" plantation boat," alongside our good snip. 

" How differently" they do look from our Colored peo- 
ple !" said one. 

Yes. Intense endurance, long gazing after something 
that never came, shame, gloom, and despair, have left 
upon those poor faces their distinct and iron impress, 
over which the veil of hope is now thinly drawn. Be- 
sides, a vivid consciousness of ungainly self, of deficiency 
in dress, manners, and respectability of appearance, the 
bitter doom of the slave is now upon them. They do not 
look up, or converse among themselves, except by stealth, 
though long in waiting. Yet one can see in them, a sly, 
keen observation of everything, and that they are inured 
to pain and patience, also to self-control and secrecy, the 
eye being habitually dropped to conceal thought. 

Never, we may here premise, can we describe our feel- 
ings on seeing the first congregation of these poor ex- 
slaves. The deep lines of fatigue, and sternly concealed 
sorrow, the patient, compelled composure of face — the 
evidence of long, resolute efforts at pious resignation, 
still severely tested by the clouds hanging over their 
future — the loving, confiding, yet keenly scrutinizing 

17 



IS SLAVERY IN SOUTH CAROLINA AND THE EX-SLAVES. 

gaze at the minister — the effort to look as if they did not 
wonder whether or not he would say anything about 
their liberty — the willingness to be comforted, yet the 
dire heaviness of soul — yet in some, deep trust and 
triumph in God, and dwelling in his pure love, was evi- 
dent — all these, with the appearance in most that the 
very life of their bodies, minds, and souls, had been 
drawn out of them, by extreme, hopeless toil — the know- 
ledge that I, or almost the same, my beloved country, 
had so, so ! wronged them : all these things overwhelmed 
the heart ; and when, at the close of an excellent sermon, 
we were asked to sing 

" There is rest for the weary." 

how did our soul praise God, that for them there is a 
heaven, not under the administration of man — a heaven 
of rest and bliss ineffable. 



CHAPTER III. 

THE LAND OF TEAE3. 

" Rob not the poor because he is poor ; neither oppress the 
afflicted in the gate ; for the Lord will plead their cause, and 
spoil the soul of those that spoil them."- -Proverbs xxii., 22, 23. 

P 

Our noble ship, the Atlantic, is now nearing South 
Carolina. "With what throngs of mingled feelings and 
solicitudes do we approach it! To hear, see, feel, all new, 
with this poor people, so late in bondage, now free, but 
with the imperfect, political sense of right, standard of 
duty, or at best, the inefficiency of this national govern- 
ment, hanging over them, as a dark cloud of possible 
enslavement. But surely a government cannot commit a 
crime for which it executes citizens, namely, enslaving the 
free, and as slaveholders have not now power over these 
people, who has ? Government % Who will say that gov- 
ernment holds them, except to protect them as citizens, 
to require of them, as of all citizens, subjection to law, 
and to military law, when necessary for their and the 
general weal, and to receive from their labor a compen- 
sation for providing for them ? Then, they are free, and 
must remain so, unless this government can kidnap, 
which cannot, of course, be thought of. Our Govern- 
ment will not defile itself with that villainous work. 
Never ! Never ! 

But we are at last, having parted with our noble At- 
lantic, and nobler Captain Eldridge, on board a transport 
that plies Beaufort River, expecting to be in Beaufort 

19 



'20 SLAYEET EST SOUTH CAKOLDTA AND THE EX-SLAVES. 

m tliree hours, and thus have time to prepare for the 
holy Morrow. All are eager, anxious for the work, 
and now, to get the best views of the plantations we are 
to pass, and whose land in the distance looks scarcely 
higher than the waves.- When, lo ! "aground !" So we 
pocket with various degrees of patience and charity, the 
mistake, or treachery, as many think it, and pay a high 
price for a " secesh " supper, and leave' the table with 
anything but dear remembrances, unless for the price. 

But darkness comes on. The third or fourth table laid 
in the only cabin, is cleared away, the boat, and the situ- 
ation is dis-cussed, at least, and in one knot sacred song 
commences. As we come to sing 

" His soul is marching on," 

members of our company look on with various shades of 
approval ; and sundry boat, and other officials, look dag- 
gers at us. But it is evident that the last believe, or at 
least fear, it is all true. Others hear with wonder, first 
among whom are " white trash," of whom we here see the 
first specimen, and compared with whom the shoeblacks 
and rag-pickers of New York are kings in manly bearing. 
They are listening, half scared, half gratified, half mysti- 
fied ; yet, seemingly for the first time, they wear a coun- 
tenance' that does not seem to ask pardon of every one 
for ever having been born, or even presuming to exist. 
Did slavery do nothing but so unman a large class of citi- 
zens, by crushing financial oppression, vigilant contempt, 
and blasting tyranny, that surely were reason enough, 
in every noble mind, for its being forever put away, at 
whatever cost. For what is money to manhood, in a repul >- 
lie % You never see such cringing Uriah Keeps, among 
the toilers of the North. Never ! But of these again. 



BOAT 80JJQ BY WHITTLES. 21 

A minister, by request, read the following, from the 
nation's, yea, humanity's poet, Whittier, composed, per- 
haps, on these very waters : 

AT PORT ROYAL.— 1861. 

BY J. G. WHITTIER. 

The tent-lights glimmer on the land, 

The ship-lights on the sea ; 
The night-wind smooths with drifting sands 

Our track on lone Tybee. 

At last onr grating keels outslide, 

Our good boats forward swing ; 
And while we ride the land-locked tide, 

Our negroes row and sing. 

For dear the bondman holds his gifts 

Of music and of song ; 
The gold that kindly nature sifts 

Among his sands of wrong ; 

The power to make his toiling days 

And poor home-comforts please ; 
The quaint relief of mirth that plays 

With sorrow's minor keys. 

Another glow than sunset's fire 

Has filled the West with light, 
Where field and garner, barn and byre 

Are blazing through the night. 

The land is wild with fear and hate, 

The rout runs mad and fast 
From hand to hand, from gate to gate, 
The flaming brand is passed. 



22 SLAVERY EST SOUTH CAROLINA AND THE EX-SLAVES. 

The lurid glow falls strong across 

Dark faces broad with smiles ; 
Not theirs the terror, hate, and loss 

That fire yon blazing piles. 

With oar-strokes timing to then* song, 

They weave in simple lays 
The pathos of remembered wrong, 

The hope of better days, — . 

The triumph note that Miriam sung, 

The joy of uncaged birds ; 
Softening with Afric's mellow tongue, 

Their broken Saxon words. 



SONG OF THE NEGRO BOATMAN. 

Oh ! praise an' tanks 1 De Lord he come 

To set de people free ; 
An' massa tink it day ob doom, 

And we ob jubilee. 
De Lord dat heap de Red Sea waves, 

He jus' as 'trong as den ; 
He say de word : we las' night slaves, 
To-day, de Lord's free men. 

De yams will grow, de cotton blow, 

We'll hab de rice an' corn ; 
Oh 1 nebber you fear, if nebber you hear 
De driver blow his horn ! 

Ole massa on he trabbles gone, 

He leeb de land behind ; 
De Lord's breff blow him furder on, 

Like corn-shuck in de wind, 






DE PROMISE NEBER FAIL. 23 



We own de hoe, we own de plow, 

We own de hands dat hold ; 
We sell de pig, we sell de cow, 
But nebber chile be sold. 

-De yam will grow, de cotton blow, 

We'll hab de rice an' corn ; 
Oh ! nebber yon fear, if nebber you hear 
De driver blow his horn 1 



We pray de Lord he gib us signs 

Dat some day we be free ; 
De Norf wind tell it to de pines, 

De wild cluck to de sea ; 
We tink it when de church-bell ring, 

We dream it in de dream ; 
De rice-bird mean it when he sing, 
De eagle when he scream. 

De yam will grow, de cotton blow, 

We'll hab de rice an' corn ; 
Oh ! nebber you fear, if nebber you hear 
De driver blow his horn ! 



We know de promise nebber fail, 

An' nebber he de word ; 
So, like de 'postles in de jail, 
We waited for de Lord ; 
An' now he open ebery door, 

An' trow away de key ; 

He tink we lub him so before, 

We lub him better free. 

De yam will grow, de cotton blow, 

He'll gib de rice an' corn ; 
So nebber you fear, if nebber you hear 
De driver blow his horn ! 



24: SLAVEKY IK SOUTH CAROLINA AND THE EX-SLAVES. 

So sing our dusky gondoliers ; 

And with a secret pain, 
And smiles that seem akin to tears, 

We hear the wild refrain. 

We dare not share the negro's trust, 

Nor yet his hope deny ; 
We only know that God is just, 

And every wrong shall die. 

Rude seems the song ; each swarthy face, 

Flame-lighted, ruder still : 
We start to think that hapless race 

Must shape our good or ill • 

That laws of changeless justice bind 

Oppressor with oppressed ; 
And, close as sin and suffering joined, 

We march to fate abreast. 

Sing on, poor heart ! your chant shall be 

Our sign of blight or bloom — 
The Yala-song of Liberty, 

Or death-rune of our doom ! 

Atlantic Monthly. 



CHAPTER IV. 

MEETING ON BOARD. 

" For the oppression of the poor, for the sighing of the needy, 
now will I arise, saith the Lord. I will set him in safety from 
him that puffeth at him." — Psalii vii., 5. 

A lakge meeting was held, wherein E. L. Pierce, Esq., 
Government Agent, and Rev. M. French, Agent of the 
Freedman's Relief Association, addressed the band of 
fifty-four persons, who go out upon a nobler errand than 
that of the Mayflower. A nobler errand, we say, not 
nobler messengers ; for while they of the Mayflower went 
for themselves, their posterity, their principles, these, or 
some of them at least, came solely for others, and a 
despised, degraded, peeled race, too ; a race which, under 
the benign and unrestrained influence and power of the 
morality, the virtue, and the religion of American slavery, 
has sunk as low as man can sink man. Then, because so 
degraded, so stultified, so dismantled, they are most 
heartily and implacably hated ! All this we prove by 
facts in subsequent chapters. 

But surely the more sunken they are, the more nobis, 
God-like, is the work of serving them. To lose self in 
such a work and purpose, in a principle made dearer 
than self, or rather life, is surely true greatness. In such 
a work, no one who cannot stand alone for humanity, for 
principle, for God, can do anything. No one who must 
have the multitude with him, or a majority, or even com- 

2 25 



26 SLAVERY m SOUTH CAROLINA AND THE EX-SLAVES. 

panionship, out of God, can stand with him ofi tins mount 
of transfiguration, or hear his voice in this Patmos. 

But to the meeting. Our first shock of actual contact 
with slavery, was on hearing Mr. Pierce say to those who 
were going to plantations : " You will find on each a 
driver, or head Colored man, who measures out to each 
Negro a peck of corn a week. You will act your best 
judgment about increasing it, and adding other food. ISTo 
marked change can be made at once, without probable 
injury to them. You will find they have no regular 
time for meals, each eating as he can. They will be found 
filthy, and some even vermined, and must have time 
given them, and be taught to take care of themselves. 
All these evils must be met and remedied in the most 
wise, kind, and quiet manner. New garments must be 
paid for in their labor, to cherish in them feelings of 
independence." lie hoped they went from the broadest 
humanity — a humanity not to be quenched by any repul- 
siveness, untidiness, or stubbornness in those they came 
to benefit. " You go to freedmen," said he, " to elevate, 
to purify and fit them for all the duties of American citi- 
zens. You go to be their friends, counsellors and protec- 
tors. The government is to be parental. The lash is 
prohibited. Some cases of discipline must arise, but shut- 
ting up, or setting upon a barrel, has been found sufficient, 
in all cases. Parents are to be led to punish their child- 
ren, when it is necessary, but in more cases to be 
restrained, as severity is all they know, or are used to. 
Any indignity to woman, by some few base soldiers, is to 
be zealously guarded against, and will meet, as we are 
assured, with the most condign punishment from military 
authorities here. Those who have been led astray, are not 
to be looked upon as those who have had more light and 
different influences." These, with a large number of 



ACUTE OBSERVERS — PATRONIZING AND REAL FRIENDS. 27 

economical regulations, were dwelt upon with great talent, 
precision, and sympathy of heart. 

Rev. Mr. French, the next day, among other re- 
marks, said, " Ours is, indeed, a new, untried mission, 
the final results of which may decide the fate of the poor 
slaves, and through them, of the nation. To do our 
work, and do it properly, requires such wisdom as God 
only can give. You will find the Negroes of the planta- 
tions, in some cases, idle, and roaming about — husbands 
searching for -their wives, parents for their children, sold 
from them. All possible facilities must be afforded them 
in this sacred work. Order must be established, indus- 
try, tidiness in personal habits, as well as in their dark 
and miserable cabins, secured, and all, when age or 
health will allow it, must have immediate employment 
They will receive you as friends, but they will not only 
carefully weigh your words and actions, but they will try 
your spirit. They are sensitive, acute observers, and 
readily distinguish between a patronizing friend and a 
real one. To have an influence over them, you must first 
convince them that yours is a brother's hand and heart. 
Under the old system, there was a constant strife between 
master and slave, each guarding jealously their own inte- 
rests, productive of evil only to either party. 

" First prove to them that their interests are yours, and 
you will acquire power to elevate and improve them. 
They are more or less in doubt as to their future condition, 
and will inquire earnestly your opinions. You may not 
feel assured of their liberty by any action of the govern- 
ment as yet, still I believe He who overruleth all things, 
has now decreed them free, and free forever [applause], 
and that events will soon prove it. It is this conviction 
that gives warrant," dignity, as well as sacredness to our 
mission. 



28 SLAVERY IN SOUTH CAROLINA AND THE EX-SLAVES. 

" Going, with this conviction, you can sow the good seed 
of knowledge and all improvement, in strong faith for a 
harvest. Obstacles, confusion and delays, or slowly mani- 
festing signs of improvement, will not discourage such 
laborers. Some have desired a lease of the land, and 
wanted the Negroes to cultivate them. "We desire a lease 
of the broad and long neglected acres of humanity, and 
the land thrown in, to develop this humanity. 

" You ask me if it will be well to assure them of their 
freedom. We should do all things as wisely as possible. 
It may be best to tell them, that we believe they are free, 
and that now they have an opportunity to prove to the 
world whether they are capable of self-government and 
support, and general respect, or not — that we have come 
to render them all possible aid — that the government and 
the North, generally, desire the experiment to be suc- 
cessful, but still, much will depend on their own efforts. 

" The former system led to involuntary overdraft upon 
the physical man. The excitement of free labor, if the 
people are what we believe they are, will require an 
increase of food, to avoid injury from overtasking. So 
peculiar and great is the work before us all, that a true 
f tness can be obtained for it only by divine grace, and in 
the field itself. Some of us may find that, though we 
have come with honest intent to do a good work, we 
nevertheless are not adapted to it, and had better retire 
and give place to others. To leave in such a case, should 
be regarded as honorable. 

" Under the slave system, the people having the evil of 
their natures developed, every look and act of their 
Master tended to impress them with a sense of inferiority 
and degradation. Let any parent pursue a similar course 
with a lovely and promising child, and it would not be 
long before that child, in its little crushed heart, would 



DISHEARTENED CHILD OPINIONS — FEELINGS RESPECTED. 29 

assent to its own degradation, give way to the worst pas- 
sions, and seek the worst company. ~V\ r e have known 
some such sad, cruel failures on the part of parents. 
Watch for good, and when the tender plant appears, 
cherish it. Approve judiciously of every good thing. 
Chide for evil, sparingly and sympathizingly. Lead them 
to be encouraged, even from failures. Experience of any 
kind may always be turned to good account in some 
direction. 

" They have a religious experience deep in the heart, 
learned in the school of toil and sorrow, which possesses 
great value to them. Any lack of appreciation, or 
especially any contempt manifested toward their religious 
opinions or feelings, will wound very deeply. In some 
of the deep things of God, we may learn from some of 
them. We have come from different sections of the 
country, with differences, no doubt, in creeds, but it is 
hoped that we shall be so united in heart and effort, as to 
secure perfect unity in the mission, and the greatest pos- 
sible good to these poor people." 



CHAPTER Y. 



LANDING. 



Arriving at last at Beaufort, at twelve, on Saturday 
evening, Dr. Peck, an excellent Baptist minister, and 
who was the first missionary on the ground after the de- 
sertion of Beaufort, was soon on board, and exchanging 
salutations through the ceiling, he kindly invited us to 
his house on the following morning. Accordingly we 
were stirring early, and in the mist which dimmed the out- 
lines of encircling shores, and filled every space and corner 
of wharfs, street?, and porches, we commenced our wade 
through the sandy and narrow streets, like all in Beau- 
fort, except a very few blocks, minus sidewalks. Truly, 
" the ways " of these arch-rebels " were movable," their 
foundations sandy and slippery. We plod up the bank — 
for the original features of mother earth are not impu- 
dently obliterated here by gradings, as in Northern cities 
— we pass by old dwelling-houses, bakeries, etc., till we 
emerge upon an open street, with Beaufort River upon 
one hand, and tolerable residences upon the other. We 
pass where years ago there must have been fires, whose 
spirits yet exult upon arches, chimneys, steps, walls, and 
eyeless windows. AVhat desolation ! Not a person have 
we met, or even seen, excepting two frizzly headed 
white boys, peeping out of a bakery window into the 
mist. 

" Here is our home," said Dr. Peck, and we enter a 
house a century old, at least, with porches new, and one tier 

80 



DESCENDANT OF JONATHAN EDWARDS VEGETATION. 31 

of rooms comparatively new, into the upper of which wo 
are ushered. This, with modern windows on three sides, 
the never-failing large wardrobe, the piano, bookshelves, 
solas, cheerful ancient lire upon the hearth, floor of snowy 
whiteness, and, far more, the genial Christian welcome, 
seems a refuge from dreariness. Soon the neat, turban- 
ned, and low courtesied servants came in, and laid break- 
fast, of fine coffee, mackerel, potatoes, and butter and 
bread. Our host, Dr. P., is of the most dignified and gen- 
tlemanly bearing, his fine blue eyes, ample forehead and 
snowy locks, and earnest expression, all speaking the great, 
tender Christian minister. His daughter, the great-great- 
great-grandchild of Dr. Jonathan Edwards, and of Thomas 
Hooper, and seeming worthy of her noble lineage, and 
three fellow-travellers, complete the circle. Our windows, 
on this sixth of March, look down upon orange and lemon- 
trees in full leaf, and their pure white buds just bursting, 
a large rose geranium, whose leaf covers our hand, olean- 
ders budding, roses in bloom, and much other shrubbery. 
Still, the aspect is that of sterility. Singular ! such 
growths out of a bed of sand, where poor grass and sickly 
weeds strive vainly for eminence. The outbuildings here, 
as everywhere, struck us as most decrepit, dozing in all 
manner of queer attitudes ; fences, poor at first, abused 
and aged. In short, all the never-failing signs of lack of 
thrift, and interest in slave laborers, everything askew and 
ill-placed. Dr. Peck, however, has been here some weeks, 
and given freshened appearances. 

Hark ! The scream of a bird smites our ear. " A robin," 
says one. " That can hardly be a robin, surely," said we, 
though aware of the fact that while the plumage of 
birds is finer, their notes are coarser, in these latitudes. 
" Yes. "What an excited harsh, note ! Can it be from 
our position on the bay-looking river, or is it from the 



32 SLAVERY IN SOUTH CAROLINA AND THE EX-SLAVES. 

strange nervousness of our soul, or system, in tins land of 
horrid visions of cruelty and sin ? Yes ; it is a robin, our 
f vorite bird, — the second note proves it. But it seems 
screaming over the desolations here. Yes, it shrieks 
shivery, and the distant shores reecho it — the rising tide 
whispers it — the morning breezes sigh it — yonder pines 
talk mournfully of it— the wind, now strengthening, roars 
it. The ghosts of cruelty seem gliding about the room, 
and perching upon the book-shelves, sofas, piano, ward- 
robe, cradle. Yes, cradle, for that sacred thing is here ! 
It is high and elegant, and so provided that the stinging 
insects of slavedom should not reach one babe ; while 
another, because darker, is thrown by the Christian mis- 
tress into the irresponsible hands of the worst of men, 
under the influence of the worst passions, intensified and 
licensed by drink, avarice, and licentiousness, almost in- 
variably. The mistress, though she honors the worse 
wholesale dealer, scorns to speak to this man of all sin. 
But she throws these innocents, and helpless girls into his 
irresponsible power, and God is silent. It matters not 
that it is done by the hands of another ; she, the cause, is 
responsible, and scorns not to live upon such gains. 
Slavery does not and cannot anywhere exist without this, 
for no family will, or does, keep the increase. The mis- 
tress, too, must go to a watering-place, take a journey, 
have new furniture, or new dress, and her faithful, trem- 
bling, agonized servant's child must be sold to pay ex- 
penses ; and that, after she had voluntarily promised her, 
over and over, she would sell — " no mo' ! no mo' !" 
Or, perhaps, mean appetite calls, and " they sell a boy for 
a harlot, and a girl for wine," as is proven by yards, top- 
pling down houses, lanes, stables, and garrets, being almost 
literally paved with. wine bottles, which led an officer to 
remark, " These Southerners loved three things. Negroes, 



WINE — KELIGIOES MAGAZINES — EDITORS — MANHOOD. 33 

wine, and religions magazines." But all the magazines 
we saw, built them np in the sin of slavery, by silence, 
and by conveying thereby the assurance, that they might 
be holy with it. What a disgrace to their editors were 
those magazines, kicking about the yards, cellars — or 
rather arched spaces under the houses — and gardens! 
What a work, for one who calls himself a man, and for 
eternity ! 



2* 



CHAPTER YL 

FIRST CONVERSE WITH EX-SLAVES. 

He is one to whom 
Long patience hath such mild composure given, 
That patience now doth seem a thing of which 
He hath no need. "Wordsworth. 

Fire being now kindled in another chamber for us, we 
soon had our first privilege of speaking and listening to 
an ex-slave, as she came in, courtesying, to attend upon 
us. She seemed in good heart, tidy, and to have great 
reverence for the good doctor. Being asked of her re- 
ligious state, she immediately glided into conversation 
respecting her mistress, her sorrow at leaving Beaufort, 
her hatred of the North, her silver, her daughters, but, 
above all, the wonder, over and over, expressed that she 
herself had never been a field-hand, — "neber!" This 
marvel was on account of the great riches and expec- 
tations of her mistress. And the wonder, scarcely less, 
was, that she had not been a common drudge, but " a 
mos' 'spectable servant in a mos' 'spectable family," all 
whose honors and wealth seemed to add to her own 
dignity, — in short, to be her own. 

"You would be glad to see them?" said we, ani- 
matedly. 

" Oh, no, Missus! don't want to see them, neber, neber ! 
Ko, mo'!" 

"You feel free, then?" 



FIRST CONVERSE WITH EX-SLAVES. 35 

" Oli ! Missus, we's trusting and praying the Lord Jesus 
Christ for dat. He is able — we knows he can — we can 
do no mo' but trust hiin. Oh, Missus, chil'en all go to 
school now — all ; and all go to Sabbath-school, ebery 
Sunday, ebery one Sunday. We's praise de Lord for 
what we do got, and trust him to be free." 
" What do you pray for about this war ?" 
" God bless ! God bless ! we must ask God first how 
to pray. Beliebers has no counsel in all dat judg- 
ment. You say : ' Lord, now show me de goodness, 
show me de meanness.' You pick and choose none for 
iudorment. If you don't born ob God, don't know. Mr. 

■I O * 

Lincum hab de Christian heart. Presiden', dear presi- 
den" good man ob God ! Oh ! we pray for God, add to 
him knowledge, wisdom, guard him, crown him ! I lef 
ol' mas'rs all to de Lord. I know de Lord by his word. 
Whosoeber beliebs him, on de right hand ob him.'' 
" How do you pray for your old masters ?" 
" I ask de Lord : ' Lord ! look down 'pon de igno- 
rant dis'bedient servants. Grant thy blessing, dat dey 
may see dat dey hab done wickedness.' I lef dem all 
wid de Lord." 

'•Do you think they are awful sinners?" 
<: My dear missus," [raising his hands,] " all dat 'tween 
deir soul an 1 God ! I was wicked gen'ration, stealin', 
Ivin', dis'bedient, in de woods. You chain me to de 
t r ee — I bruise de tree. God hab mercy, I cry. Now I 
not sin ; I gentleman ! filled wid de Spirit ob God. — 
Walk in de spirit ob holiness now. Mas'r sell all, wife 
an' chil'en. Put de debil in me ! Nor food for eat for 
two days, work hard all de time. Say : ' Please gib me 
one pint ob corn! one pint!' No! I get to de cub- 
board, eat some. Congress say: 'Wicked nigger!'— 
'Stealin' nigger!'" The testimony'of the superintend- 
ent and preacher was, that this was an excellent man 
and an excellent Christian. 



3G SL AVERT IN SOUTH CAROLINA AND THE EX-SLATES. 

This sentiment, reiterated from every one — from the de- 
vout with deepest uplifting of the heart and hands, and, 
even from the comparatively thoughtless, reverently, is 
most touching, and often brings tears. In short, were we 
obliged to describe the spirit of the ex-slaves by one text, 
it should be, — " We trust in the Lord Jehovah, for in the 
Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength." 

Poor crushed and peeled race! While they honor, 
serve, and reverence the good man, their eyes are unto 
the Lord, their expectation is from Him, and they look 
with such a chastened, patient quietness, upon everything 
that is doing, for or against them, as touches all hearts 
most deeply. The most devout seem to see a hand you 
cannot see, to hear a voice you cannot hear, to feel a 
liberating Power approaching you cannot feel. 



CHAPTER TIL 



BEATTFOET. 



" How much she hath glorified herself, and lived deliciously, so 
much torment and sorrow give her : for she saith in her heart, I 
sit a queen, and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow. 

Therefore shall her , plagues come in one day, death, and 
mourning, and famine. 

And the merchants of the earth shall weep and mourn over 
her, for no man buyeth their merchandise any more. 

The merchandise of gold, and silver, and precious stones, and 
of pearls, and fine linen, and purple, and silk, and scarlet, and all 
thyme wood, and all manner vessels of ivory, and all manner ves- 
sels of most precious wood, and of brass, and iron, and marble, 

And cinnamon, and odors, and ointments, and frankincense, 
and wine and oil, and fine flour, and wheat, and beasts, and 
sheep, and horses, and chariots, and slaves, and souls of men. 

And the fruits that thy soul lusted after, are departed from 
thee, and all things which were dainty, and goodly, are departed 
from thee, and thou shalt find them no more at all. 

The merchants of these things which were made rich by her, 
shall stand afar off for the fear of her torment, weeping and 
wailing, 

And saying, Alas, alas, that great city, that was clothed in 
fine linen, and purple and scarlet, and decked with gold, and 
precious stones, and pearls : 

For in one hour so great riches is come to naught. And 
every ship master, and all the company in ships, and sailors, and 
as many as trade by sea, stood afar off."— Rev. xviii. T, 8, 11-11. 

Ox the Atlantic coast in ever traitorous S. Carolina, 

is Beaufort, Biifort, or Bofort, as it is* variously called 

or 



38 SLAVERY IN SOUTH CAROLINA AND THE EX-SLAVES. 

by the Colored, a name contracted from " Beautiful 
Fort," erected by the French, in the sixteenth century, on 
the Beaufort river, four miles below, toward Hilton 
Head. 

It is an ancient and drowsy town, or city, of over two 
centuries. Its business was mostly done on the river 
street. Its buildings, with porches and arbors, stand in 
military line and gravity, along the fine bank. Its old 
houses, sitting among the newer, in a gentle curve, upon 
these fair waters, like aged mothers, among pert, ele- 
gant and ambitous daughters, all seem in profound 
repose. Its alleys, walls, garden-walks, creep blindly 
along, feeling their way amid tangled shrubbery, neg- 
lected flower plants, and aged trees. Its streets, of either 
deep sand or tnrf, say, "It is impossible that real life, 
either in business or pleasure, ever animated them." 
The splendid parades and grand music of the military, the 
roll of drum, the universal gallop of the many mounted, 
officers, seem only to rouse the faintest and doziest of 
echoes, and to stir the still air for an instant. The tide 
creeps languidly, hesitatingly disputing territory with the 
broad shores of white sand, but, like freedom, always in the 
end, triumphant, and some houses seem, having started, to 
stand pondering whether or not to fall. Most public build- 
ings and walls show very imperfect building, and with 
suburbs, long neglect. In short, " slavery is written upon 
everything in such a look of shiftlessness," as a Philadel- 
phia lady remarked. Nearly all marble monuments in 
the churchyard, for instance, are covered with singular 
black mold, which need only be removed once a year, to 
be. kept away. Fences around graves, intended for orna- 
ment or defence, contain the dead limbs, trunks, rubbish, 
and leaves of years, and filled with weeds and rank, poi- 
sonous vines and briars, seem fit dwelling-places for rep- 



MERCHANTS WEEPING — AFPEARANCE OF BEAUFORT. 39 

tiles ; but some have been carefully kept. Marble monu- 
ments, when composed of several pieces, are falling apart, 
and showing their hypocritical brick hearts, while a few 
scared flowers seem lifting their lone heads as if to apolo- 
gize. In the ancient churches, and graveyards surround- 
ing them, nearly everything slants at every possible 
angle. Nothing is quite upright, as if in punishment to 
man for not being so. Beaufort is, in short, a complete 
specimen of slaveholding aristocracy. The showy man- 
sion, the miserable slave " quarters," scarcely a place 
but has somewhere the tell-tale of poverty ; or if not of 
that, certainly of most contemptible avarice or ineffici- 
ency. For instance, one mansion, with costly empannel- 
led parlors, has back-floors slanting, back-stairs tottering, 
and " quarters " floorless, the deep white sand having 
become black and nauseous. Yet in this hideous place, 
every iota for the splendid table was cooked. The poor 
Colored woman, a saint of God, said, " I used to had to 
work till after de secon' crowing, den I would jes throw 
my bed on 'at kitchen table and sleep till mo/ light, cans' 
I have to do task fo' I get breakfast." To one who has 
seen the pile of black rags, the poor slave calls his bed, 
and can imagine it, upon the only kitchen table, com- 
ment is unnecessary. But of course visitors w r ere too 
well bred ever to look toward the kitchen, or take its 
odious breath. 

Impressions, upon entering church here, were the most 
shocking — a den of thieves — a den of thieves — rin<rs and 
rings through our mind in spite of all effort to the con- 
trary. Everything conspires to heighten the impression, 
the high, square, angular, spindling pulpit, with its prickly 
teeth-like finishings is of black, the small trimmings 
covered with gold leaf; iron and gold, fit emblems of the 
ambition of most of those, who worshipped tyranny and 



40 SLAVERY IX SOUTH CAROLINA AND THE EX-SLAVES. 

mammon, here. In the galleries above the high awk- 
ward fronts, rises, first, a cloud of dark faces, then, a cloud 
of turbans, high, and large, mostly of modest purple and 
white muslin, very clean, very stiff, and artistically put 
on. Poor race, how long have they sat there, to be edi- 
fied by " cursed be Canaan :" " God made you for ser- 
vants :" " He is a respecter of persons." 

But now what an audience ! Koble military, from the 
able and excellent General Stevens, to the common sol- 
diers, in full dress and most dignified and reverential 
aspect beneath the folds of our sacred star-spangled ban- 
ner, fill the place, and in all about five ladies are present, 
and from the holy man of God, goes up the prayer that all 
oppression, and slavery, may cease and liberty, righteous- 
ness, and love prevail. Oh it was magnificent, soul-thrill- 
ing ! Still, the lies, there spoken seem to be yet reverbe- 
rating, through the oppressed atmosphere. How has 
manhood here been crushed, how has childhood been 
embittered, merelv because the skin was darker. "Was 
ever such nonsense heard ? to say nothing of the wicked- 
ness. 



CHAPTER YIII. 

VEGETATION OF THIS LATITUDE. 

That delicate forest flower, 
With scented breath, and look so like a smile, 
Seems, as it issues from the shapeless mold, 
An emanation of the indwelling life — 
A visible token of the upholding- Love 
That are the soul of this wide universe. 

Bryant. 

Vegetation, too, is singular. Even that seems to par- 
take of the spirit of slavery. Trees, luxuriant, but mis- 
shapen, gnarly, ill-tempered, shade struggling blades of 
grass, and sickly weeds pushing up vainly amid sand, 
which forbids free development. The live-oaks look like 
uncommonly crooked limbed and overgrown apple-trees 
in general appearance, in town. But aged ones in forests, 
are like elms with many trunks, and one we saw, is esti- 
mated to be thirty feet in circumference. The orange and 
lemon trees are scraggy to the ground, and surrounded 
with shoots. But the rich enamelled leaves are beautiful, 
as are those of the fig-trees, which hide beautifully the 
most unsightly trunks and the crookedest of all limbs, as by 
one glossy apron. The streets are lined with the prickly 
pear cactus, its bloated tongues bristling with stings. 
But as sweet buds are beginning to crown them, so may 
not 'the beautiful buds, blossoms, and fruits, of liberty yet 
adorn, and honor, and flow from the tongues of former 
residents here, which so long shot forth little but stings 

41 



42 SLAVERY IN SOUTH CAROLINA AND THE EX-SLAVES. 

and venom. The fragrance of the gorgeous flowers is 
delicious but stupefying. The forests in winter have an 
exceedingly tangled, untidy aspect, from the sameness of 
the color of the moss, a parasitic plant, with the trunks 
and limbs. But as April wears on, and the foliage 
becomes heavy, the contrast of the green crown of leaves 
above the limbs, with the long silver-grey fringes of moss 
below, hanging in tassels of from one to three yards in 
length, is beautiful, and waving from the tree-tops, which 
meet and arch over the roads, forms an overhanging 
bower of great beauty. 

Still though there are here luxurious and stately 
growths, there is not as yet that hearty union of all 
plants in growing together, which in the vegetable world 
constitutes true beauty. Every splendid thing seems to 
overtop something which dwindles under its influence. 
How different from our maples, under whose fostering 
shadow the grass grows more thriftily, though our locusts, 
we must own, seem like some people, only to show their 
greatness by the number of things they minify. It is 
pitiful, to see the respect of the Colored for the fenceless 
flower-gardens. Truly, the foot does tread them down, 
even the foot of the poor and the steps of the needy. 
Singular, too, that they never pick flowers — excepting the 
spruce beau, a peony or rose, to ornament his hat for 
Sabbath ! 

Observing this a long time, we at last said to a child : 

" You do not pick flowers for yourself, though you 
select such a pretty bouquet for me. Does your mother 
tell you not to ?" 

" Yes, Missus." 

" Why ?" 

" Because I do not want them." 

As other children made me the same answer, word for 



FRUITS — VINES — HEDGES — SOLITARY PLANTATIONS. 43 

Nvord, doubtless that is precisely what their mothers told 
them. But a white child would have said : " She says I 
do not want them," if it were remembered at all. Do 
you see the difference of disposition ? 



CHABTEB IX. 

government's time and claims. 

Honesty, even by itself, though making many adversaries 
Whom prudence might have set aside, or charity have softened, 
Evermore will prosper at the last, and gain a man true honor. 

Tupper. 

But the honest and conscientious reader — for there are 
such yet, and some even who live at government tables — ■ 
says : " How could you, sent and rationed by govern- 
ment, honestly spend time to write this book 2" This 
requires an answer, for which we must, in advance, beg 
the reader's pardon, if it be undignified. But honesty is 
worth more than dignity, and many could no sooner 
appropriate a quarter or dime from government's purse 
without rendering an equivalent, than from yours, gentle 
reader. Then to justify this appropriation of time to 
writing, which honesty, conscience, and love of the 
precious work, might seem to have demanded, should be 
used otherwise; we must say we were from the com- 
mencement of this mission, as the "chinking" which 
tried to be used in filling all ungainly, unoccupied spaces, 
and though often in comparative dishonor, thus con- 
solidating the splendid parts into a solid edifice, and in 
that way really serving and effective, just in proportion 
as it is ready to be used or not used, crushed outside or 
inside, up or down, concealed or revealed, according as 
the wants and inequalities of the splendid materials around 
it demand. 

4A 



DISINTERESTED BENEVOLENCE SACRED SUEJECT. 45 

But as chinking comes to hard pressure invariably, our 
strength was mostly spent early each clay, thus leaving 
abundant leisure, if uot quite the same mental vigor for 
writing. 

Now, pray do not understand us as setting up a claim 
to " disinterested, benevolence," for this scheme, having 
originated, as to earthly agency, in the brain of our own 
Aloses, he having led this band of Ladies to this Eed Sea, 
it was all important that it be crossed rightly and suc- 
cessfully, carrying the sacred, ark unharmed. And it 
was, praise God. Onr Miriams are already shouting vic- 
tory on the hither side, while the pro-slavery host, their 
wheels already dragging heavily, are thundering on to 
the ingulfing, that they proudly and madly demand 
and. defy. But the demands here forbade our going to 
ISTew York to attend to publishing, so the manuscript, pre- 
pared in great haste, from urgent necessity, in the opinion 
of many, goes from here before an indulgent public, with- 
out rewriting. We have not aimed at smooth and elegant 
writing. The subject is too awful, too sacred, for polished 
periods. We only ask to draw faithful pictures — would 
they were more vivid ! Oh, the contemptible poverty 
of words, smothering, hiding, what they would depict ! 



CHAPTER X. 



CRUELTY KEIGNS. 



My grief is all within ; 
And these external manners of lament 
Are merely shadows to the unseen grief 
That swells with silence in the tortured soul ; 
There lies the substance. Shak&peare. 

The voice of cruelty resounds here. This morn the 
blackbirds scream of it. The large crows that crown 
every dead tree-top, caw, caw, it. Horses, lean and weak, 
as well as cows and dogs, speak it in their poor eyes. 
Aged women, found on plantations, leaning on staves, 
are saying, shivering : u Oh, Missus, I so col' ; I got no 
clo's but dese." 

" What, no petticoat ?" 

" No, Missus, neber had but one, dat gone." 

Children, and even infants, are sadly inured to rigid 
self-control, and when obliged to weep, run away to 
hide it ; babies attended by those not much older, to the 
injury of the body, mind, and heart, of both, all proclaim 
it. No time, strength, patience, or heart, for sympathy 
have the poor " field-hand" women. They all have little 
feeling at the death of one, because all want to die who 
would, by grace, have the tenderness to feel. 

On the corner of the next lot, lying upon a few rags 
on the hearth, too weak to cry, is a child of six years, in 
a dying state, from consumption or neglect. One of our 
ladies, on a second visit, said to the woman : 

4rt 



DEATH DESIRED — CEUELTY — FIELDWOMEN. 47 

" You said that was your child. Is it I 

" No, ma'am ; my sister's." 

"There, I thought you told me wrong. You must 
take it up and bathe it, using some of this nice healing- 
soap. We have brought all clean clothes and a bed" 
(a large clothes-basket filled with nice straw, and covered 
with soft cloths). 

" Can't wash him ; mus' go fo' rations." 

" You must wash him ; he is suffering so." 

" I'll do it when I come home." 

" You must do it now ; we cannot leave until you do." 

" I won't let my baby cry, and hold that big nigger." 

" Only think how you speak, and he cannot live two 
days. How will you feel when you see him dead ?" 

" I feel glad, Missus, glad ! Heavenly Father take 
five my children, I glad 1 ! I praise him ! If he take dis 
too, and my own one child, all I got, I praise him" ' tears 
running down her poor face "'cause so much trouble." 

So bitter, bitter ! had been her poor life ! 

" But you must take care of him while he lives, else it 
is sin ; you must wash him and put on these clean clothes ; 
then we will put him in this clean bed. What ails his 
little head ?" 

" Maggits, ma'am, maggits." 

Our sister, with uplifted hands, ran out and home to 
get remedies, we enforcing and superintending the 
washing. 

" She shouldn't call'd my own poo' baby names," said 
the poor woman, big tears rolling down her thin cheeks. 

" She did not ; you misunderstood her. "We are as 
tender of your own child as of this one ; but yours is 
well, and it will not hurt it, so much, to cry a little." 

"Yes, ma'am, i^ will; it will kill it" — having a 
weakness, as it proved. 



48 SLAVEKY IN SOUTH CAROLINA AND THE EX-SLAVES. 

The little sufferer's Lips were raw, nearly skinless, yet 
there it had lain on the hearth and floor, upon a heap of 
coarse moss, from the top of which the small wet rags 
had been pushed off, and the floor under which, as we 
took a long stick and poked them out in the sunshine, 
looked as for a long time wet. 

We said to the poor woman : " We pity you more than 
we blame you. We keep our sick little ones as clean as 
this dear little one is now ; but we do not have to work 
in the field as you always have to do. Still, you want to 
learn to do things right, don't you ?" 

" 01), yes, Missus, I do, 'deed I do !" 

Dear sick boy, whose white father is probably advo- 
cating the beauties of slavery, Abraham's bosom received 
him in two days ! 

Looking into the basin on the hearth, we saw the tea 
given her the evening previous, a week's stock, all steep- 
ing and black, with an iron spoon in it. One would not 
think it possible that a woman could be so destitute 
of domestic knowledge. But we must do the poor 
woman the justice to say that her rags were all as clean as 
possible without soap, as many of them had none to wash 
with, her bed being a pile of rags, a bushel in size, laid 
upon a shelf, ready to be strewn upon the floor at night. 

She will be attended to. Still some would have us sit 
in northern parlors, with hands folded, to entertain some 
caller, or even slaveholder, and let this, and a thousand 
other such instances, pass. 

Said we last evening to a lady of wealth and luxury, 
of our own city, " What would induce you to leave this 
work, and go home?" 

i} .Money would not do it," she replied. 
So all feel, grudging themselves the needful rest, but 
each sure that the other is overdoing. 



THE MURDERERS OF HEARTS — PUNISHMENT — TORTURE. 49 

It has got to be a truism : " We may get sick in tlie 
work, but we cannot get tired of it." 

But we merely named this instance in speaking of 
cruelty. As we returned to our dear Mission home,ja 
most excellent Boston lady said : " It is not the whip- 
ping that is so awful. No ; it is the dehumanizing in- 
fluences of slavery that are so horrible, so horrible !" 

But yet, is there not beyond, peace, liberty in the world ? 
See, beyond the croaking, the cawing, the screaming of 
these birds of slavedom, in the blue distance down the 
river, is the beautiful white sea-bird, with unexeitcd 
mien and glistening wing, moving in gentle undulations, 
strongly, quietly and joyously. May not that bird, liv- 
ing not upon carrion or theft, but upon the pure, honest 
table that God hath spread in mid ocean, typify the 
sweet spirit of liberty, hovering near these shores, pre- 
paring to bless master and slave alike ? Certainly, if the 
millennium does come, slavery must first cease. We 
think of the poor woman who occupied this home, this 
chamber, whoever she was, and who probably left it with 
so many tears, as many had to be carried to their car- 
riages, crying, " My punishment is greater than I can 
bear!" We think how she would rest here with free 
laborers, serving her as heartily as they do us. Yet, let 
either of these, our good servants know that we had bought 
him, and seven devils would instantly take possession of 
him. Then we would be obliged to be^in the vain 
attempt, with Satan to cast out Satan, if the spirit of 
liberty, of the revolution, of Washington, may be called 
Satan. Ah, this system has been upheld by cruelties un- 
imaginable ! 

Every face, everything, bears the impress of it. In 
this dark land, torture has been a science, perfecting for 
long, long, weary years. A woman, found in a far worse 

3 



50 SLAVERY IN SOUTH CAROLINA 4ND THE EX SLATES. 

case, if possible, than the foregoing, bad a sister slave 
sick. Her master and a relative swore they would " cool 
her fever," and together they ducked her, keeping her 
under the water to the very point of strangulation, and 




in the effort to do so, broke two bones ; then they took 
her out and left her, and at evening she was found dead. 

It is perfectly evident, from the incidental remarks of 
slaves upon plantations, that they always felt that Massah 
had power over their lives, and death has been the com- 
monest of threats. 

"Loss of property," one cries, "is a preventive." 
Then, if so, why do men lose fortunes in every other way 
to gratify passion ? Yes ! and when they fully believe 
and know they are bartering heaven for a few moments' 
indulgence. We had determined, as far as possible, to 
avoid description of sufferings, for adequately to do it is 
impossible. Accordingly, no instance is given but to 



LOSS OF PROPERTY — VICE. 



51 



illustrate some principle. Still, many instances are 
pressing upon our mind, as important to the true picture 
of slavery here. It is perfectly evident that these slave- 
holders thought their works would never see the light of 
liberty, or he reported from a free press, else they had 
done far otherwise. Q*ie year since, we could not have 
said all we must, or perhaps, should not have thought it 
duty. But they have shown out their true character, and 
now these facts are patent here. "We sincerely regret, and 
blush for shame, that we must speak so of our own coun- 
trymen. 




CHAPTER XI. 

m 

THE MISSION TO POET ROYAL. 

» 

He did bring 
Life's warm affections to the sacrifice, 
Its loves, hopes, sorrows, and become as one 
Knowing no kindred but a perishing world, 
No love but of the sin-end angered soul, 
No hope but of the Winning back to life 
Of the dead notions, and no passing thought, 
Save of the errand wherewith he was sent 
As to a martyrdom. Whittier. 

Never was a mission commenced under greater dis- 
couragements. A race to be elevated by the same 
people that had so long oppressed them — confidence to 
be inspired, in those of whom they had heard every lie 
that the heart of man could fabricate — in religion too, 
our only weapon that had riveted their chains, yea, bound 
their souls to be and have nothing here, that they might 
thus fulfill the curse, and gain heaven at last — loaded with 
the odious teachings, and more odious or harder borne 
blessings of the apostles of slavery — seeing thousands of 
their oppressed kindred, sold in the streets of Beaufort, 
under the ownership and sanction of prominent Christians 
— mothers screaming for their poor babes, until they 
reached, and were shut into the boat — to inspire hope for 
despair, confidence for such gloomy experience, and fore- 
boding — courage for mean, timid compliance — industry 
for hatred of labor, intensified by every influence from 

62 



PROVIDING A LUXURY. 53 

infancy, knowing only the toil without the joy of work 
—to teach self-control to those weak of purpose from long 
tyranny — to produce self-reliance in those who had never 
known the luxury of providing for one's own — to call 
forth tenderness in every relation, where only brutality 
had been prompted — to impose the decencies of family 
customs in living, eating and worshipping, upon those so 
debased in habits and utterly irregular — in short, to lead 
up the mount of self-denial, and all goodness, those en- 
feebled by every influence, indulgence, barbarism and 
stimulus, resorted to by those who hoped thereby to improve 
their stock, or increase the number of "head" of slaves — 
an admitted fact, — all this was surely a work of such mag- 
nitude as can hardly here be conceived. But. there is 
no measuring or describing the curse. And shall the 
perpetrators escape judgment in this world, or in that 
which is to come ? He who says this, says, " there is no 
God." But, speaking of this mission, religion- — true, pure, 
honest, undefiled religion — can do the work. She hesi- 
tates not, but longs to commence it, and for new trophies 
to the precious cross of Christ. None but the Christian 
could undertake the real work ; yet Tie can, and love it 
too, above life itself. Nothing but faith and love, those 
two blessed angels, can lead victoriously through every 
impossibility, bridge every gulf, soar over every moun- 
tain, and lead up to God ! to obey and honor him, in habits 
as well as heart, But for all this, it is in its full power, 
far more than adequate. 



CHAPTER XII. 

THE VACANT HOMES. 

Both honor and Christian sympathy must lead one to 
speak tenderly of a home, in the absence of those who 
long loved it — of homes, made sacred by births, and 
loves, and sufferings, and holy vows, and marriages, and 
piety, and deaths. A deserted home ! and that an aged 
one. "What scenes have transpired within these eloquently 
dumb walls — what words spoken, what reliefs felt, what 
sorrows endured ! In one instance, as a poor Colored 
woman was washing the floor, she looked up, and in 
their peculiar, soft, chastened, pensive manner and voice 
said, " Missus, der's ben tears 'nough shed in dis room 
by nigger girls to wash all dis no','' and casting her beau- 
tiful eyes wistfully all around, went quietly at her work 

again. 

But still we feel very, very tenderly for the ab- 
sent,, for who shall cast the first stone? So far as we 
know, no word is spoken that could wound them, were 
they invisibly present, excepting in reference to slavery, 
or rebellion, upon which a holy indignation, without ca- 
pacity at least, for which, a man is totally without excel- 
lence, is quietly, and warmly expressed. But we tread 
their walks, or rather the government's, and these halls 
and rooms, and verandas, sadly, in their behalf, and when 
we criticise, it is the demon slavery, and his incantations, 
works, and rewards, and not them. There is no personal 
hatred in the heart of the Xorth against the South. It is 



D4 



DESERTED MANSIONS. 55 

only the system of slavery that we abhor, as a foul can- 
cer in a brother's body, slowly eating- toward the viti 
Yes, we pass tenderly around, or rest, in these deserted 
mansions. We feel deep sympathy and sorrow that they, 
often so deceived, so sinned, so suffered. But suffering 
is linked to sin by every perfection of God, " the God 
of the poor, the needy, and him that hath no helper." 

The flight from these homes was most hurried, Colored 
and "White, all flyiug. Everything, that could go on 
wheels, used, roads clogged, and all confusion, ladies 
fainting, and restoratives used, as the carriages rushed 
furiously on. Fires were commencing in buildings, 
where report says many poor Negroes were locked in, and 
burned, alive ! Please notice, we give this, as report. 
But the Negroes are said to be missing, and men whose 
names we have, had sworn they would do it, rather than 
the Yankees should get them. Still, the Colored do not 
refer to it, as amazing. Familiarity with suffering has 
deprived everything shocking, of power, to astonish ! one 
of the saddest of features. These homes became dear. 
They witnessed much toil, and sympathy, for the Colored, 
but little conversation respecting slavery. One would 
check it in another, and gentlemen in charge, w r ould 
check all, saying " this dwelling upon what you have 
seen, prostrates you more than the climate," so that, out 
of regard to health, slavery was almost a forbidden topic. 
"When coming from plantations, where all the soul had 
been thrilled with sorrow, and sympathy, every allusion 
to it was checked with " let's sing." And we com- 
menced sometimes : " Oh what are all my sorrows here ?" 
Still, nothing seemed so inspiring and just appropriate as — 

John Brown's body lies mouldering in the grave ; 
His soul's marching on — 

with which those old oaks and pines were made to ring. 



CHAPTER XIII. 

SLAYEET A SEALED BOOE!. 

For God shall bring every work into judgment with every 
secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil. 

Slavery is a sealed book to all without its precincts ; 
yea, to many within. There are thousands in slavedom 
who, if they knew of the agonies endured on their own 
plantations, 'would not suffer it — they would secede from 
it in some way — inured as they have been from infancy, 
to dire cruelties of the system. True, an aggravated case 
occasionally comes to their ears, or even their sight. But 
when the Master is tender of their feelings, the provoca- 
tions are strongly dwelt upon, the " nigger" is made to 
appear as a devil incarnate. The overseer is scolded, 
sworn at, and charged in their presence, not to repeat his 
cruelties, or the driver, being a slave, is whipped. Thus 
treated, as a great wonder, children, and women in many 
cases, believe it is such, when it is only a little beyond 
what a majority of their slaves suffer, and that weekly, if 
not daily. But the slaves are inured to the most perfect 
self-control, and to hide their feelings completely. 

Said a number of reliable Negroes, " "When Massah or 
oberseer whip you, he untie you, den you mus' look right 
up in his face and smile, else you get jes as much mo', and 
when de people or strangers come roun' you must smile 
and say, ' Massah good,' 'Massah kind,' 'you'se so happy!' 
else you get whip so awful ! You cannot tell Missus, else 
she think you oneasy and goin' to run away. Missus harder 

56 



MUST £MILE AND LIE — DESOLATION - . 57 

dan Massah, but she nebcr see we whipt, neber ! You 
can't tell Massah 'bout de oberseer, lie tin' it out, an' you'se 
nearly killed, when Massah away." So that al'tcr all inves- 
tigation, we find that but one, or at most two dignitaries 
on each plantation,- know all that goes on, These are, 
the overseer, a man adapted by nature, passion, educa- 
tion, vice, drink, and- greed of gain for his work, and the 
driver, usually an athletic negro, and a skillful planta- 
tion manager, whose every blow upon the Negro saves 
two from his own back. 

But one says', " I have seen the whipping." ]STo sir, 
never ! The whipping proper, is done in the dusk of 
.evening, or grey of morning, and in the most retired 
place, and the poor sufferer knows that for every moan 
he makes, scores of blows will descend. But the torture, 
agonizing as it is, is not slavery's hardest feature, as we 
shall hereafter prove. "We merely allude to it here, to 
show that slavery is actually a sealed book. 

An intelligent lady, the wife of a United States Sen- 
ator, raised amid slavery, said, " A person may be even 
raised and spend a life time among it, and unless he is 
of a very prying, pushing, energetic nature, he will know 
nothing that is going on. He must, too, be very early 
and very late upon the watch ;" failings not common in 
self-indulgent families. 

Siuce we came here, we are convinced that this is one 
secret of the universal outcry, made to strangers, against 
being out early, or late, in the morning, or evening, which 
has been so zealously asserted to be death here. And 
this opinion is confirmed by the fact, that our brave 
soldiers, exposed to both, are universally the healthiest 
men you see, not even excepting the Colored race, who 
alone are said to be able to bear such exposure, while we, 
who sit cooped up as directed here, over fires, in summer, 

3* 



58 SLAVERY IN SOUTH CAROLINA AND THE EX-SLAVES. 

mornings and evenings, are less so. But how con- 
venient for the hard overseer, that the family, the guests, 
and even the Master, often, rise not, until all the planta- 
tion business is disposed of, except driving through the 
day, weighing, and reporting tasks after dark, and the 
whippings consequent. On most plantations you are 
shown the trees to which Negroes were tied, near the 
house, for the deception of all, in it. But ask, 41 Was the 
hardest whipping done here ?" " No, Missus, way down 
dere," pointing to the most secluded place. 

It is the universal testimony, that work in the field 
conmienced when it was light enough to see, and con- 
tinued till dark, or " at least till de sun was in de tree 
tops' 7 — from which, till dark, is a very short time in these 
latitudes. So awfully were they driven, that laws were 
made to prevent it, and executed in most slave states, 
as this, for instance, in South Carolina : 

" Whereas, many owners of slaves, and others who 
have the care, management, and overseeing of slaves, 
do confine them so closely to hard labor, that they have not 
sufficient, time for natural rest,' Be it therefore enacted, 
That if any owner of slaves, or other persons, who shall 
have the care, management, or overseeing of slaves, 
shall work or put any such slave or slaves to labor more 
titan fifteen liours in twenty-four hours, from the 25th 
day of March to the 25th day of September ; or more 
titan fourteen hours in twenty-four hours, from the 25th 
day of September to the 25th day of March, every such 
person shall forfeit any sum not exceeding twenty 
pounds nor under five pounds current money, for every 
time he, she, or they shall offend herein, at the dis- 
cretion of the justice before whom the complaint shall 
be made."* 

* 2 Brevard's Digest, 243. 



FIFTEEN HOURS THE LEGAL DAY'S WORK — PADLOCKS. 59 

" How much longer than fourteen or fifteen hours 
per day, in winter and summer, the South Carolina 
planters had been in the habit of working their slaved, 
we are left to conjecture ! But we know that ' the lawa 
of Maryland, Virginia, and Georgia forbid that the 
criminals in their penitentiaries shall be compelled to 
labor more than ten hours a day.' " * 

In Georgia and in Mississippi, there are laws for- 
bidding the unnecessary labor of shtves on the Sabbath. 
This is all the information before us. In most of the 
slave states, there are no laws limiting slave labor. 
(See Strond, p. 26.) 

One single consideration is sufficient to show that 
the limitations just quoted are of no practical value. 

No SLAVE AND NO FREE COLORED PERSON, IN THE SLAVE 
STATES, CAN BE A WITNESS AGAINST A WHITE PERSON. (lb., 

27.) Slaveholders would not be forward to prosecute 
each other for ill treatment of slaves. 

Visitors, teachers, mechanics, might thus remain here 
months, and see positively nothing of the worst fea- 
tures of slavery, and yet honestly believe they saw all. 

But one says, " I saw the quarters where they live." 
Did you? How many did you see, unlocked ? The uni- 
versal padlock was put upon most of them before light, 
or at least very early, and not touched till after dark, 
and those that you entered, were those of the laun- 
dress, the cook, or perhaps sometimes the favorite of 
Massah, called a sewing woman ; but for deception's 
sake, they are situated among the others, and made to 
resemble them precisely outside, so that one would be- 
lieve that, in seeing them, he saw a specimen of all. 

There is no day when the quarters are not padlocked 
from sun, to sun, excepting rarely Saturday afternoons 
and Sabbaths. Then, the poor dwelling has often the 

* Jay's Inquiry, p. 130. 



60 SLAVERY IN SOUTH CAROLINA AND THE EX-SLAVE9. 

benefit of half a day's labor from the "field-hand" mother 
and sisters. On Sabbath, too, the one meal of the week 
is taken, the rest being a mere piece of hoe-cake, or jimk 
of hominy, eaten lying, sitting, or running, as their 
" turn at the mill," the cooking, or worse, the time, will 
permit. This one meal is sometimes dignified with a 
little pork, given out on the best plantations, on Saturday 
evening. This meal, with the Sunday or clean suit, 
earned out of work* hours, is enough to* make the poor 
Negro jovial. Beside, the mere privilege of sitting down, 
or standing quietly, is a greater luxury than all that 
can be heaped upon a city voluptuary. Now if the guest 
walks out " for meditation " or sweet converse with the 
" good, kind Massah," he is as accidentally as possible led 
to see them out of their houses, where they ever are. He 
hears their compliments to " Massah," every one of which 
diminishes the danger or severity of their Mondays, or 
subsequent whippings. All this, together with their 
appearance of happiness, the greater from being a lull 
from so much distress, or agony in that lone dell or wood, 
whose name they dare not utter, the visitor sees, and he 
goes home, to Congress, or to the pulpit, with a lie in his 
right hand, his mind, or worse, in his heart. 

The whole hospitality, etiquette, dignity, austerity, of 
plantation owners, and usages, ever forbade his going one 
word, or inch, beyond a certain line, in seeing, sympa- 
thizing, investigating. Yet to make the deception doubly 
sure, within that line, all seemed to be the most perfect 
abandon of freedom. 

" The white people who came here used to talk to you, 
I presume," said we. 

" Oh no, Missus ! neber ! 'cept Massah, dere ; den we 
must praise him, or >e cut up mo'. Neber had no chance 
to speak to nobody 'bout Massah, neber !" 



NEBEE CHANCE TO SPEAK 'BOUT MASSAII. 61 

. The slave, too, conceals. lie is never off his guard, 
lie is perfectly skilled in hiding all emotions. The 
downcast eye, dull when he wills it, conceals his 
opinions, the hearty laugh his grief. His Master knows 
him not, except, possibly, as to what brute force will best 
subdue him. Nothing is more apparent now that the 
mask is thrown off, than that owners never under- 
stood their slaves. They were accomplished tragedians, 
the dullest of them, as will in many cases appear, in this 
work. But lest some think we err, and that Masters and 
visitors did understand them, we give from Southern 
Works, extracts from the official eepoet of the rebel- 
lion under Denmark Yesey, of Charleston. It says : 

" He was for twenty years a most faithful slave. He 
maintained such an irreproachable character, and en- 
joyed so much the confidence of the whites, that when 
he was accused of leading the rebellion, not only was 
the charge discredited, but he was not even arrested for 
several days after, and not till the proofs of his guilt 
had -become too strong to be doubted. JSTot a symptom 
of the volcauo raging within him had ever appeared, 
and on close investigation of his whole life, nothing 
could be adduced by witnesses but that once he had said, 
respecting his children, 'he wished he could see them 
free.' Yet for more than four years, the enterprise for the 
independence of the blacks had occupied his whole mind." 

That the Colored men cannot be understood when 
they will it otherwise, is further proven from the same 
Report. It goes on to say : 

" It is a remarkable fact, that the general good" char- 
acter of the leaders, except Gullah Jack, was such as 
rendered them objects least liable to suspicion. Their 
conduct had secured them not only the unlimited confi- 
dence of their owners, but they had been indulged." 



62 SLAVERY IN SOUTH CAROLINA AND THE EX-SLAVES. 

"But," continues the Report, "not only were the 
leaders of good character, and very much indulged by 
their owners, hut this was very generally the case, 
with all who were convicted, many of them possessing 
the highest confidence of their owners, and not one re- 
puted of had character." 

We merely quote this from Southern records, as being 
more convincing to critics — not as more striking, than 
many instances we have found. Of course, no sensible 
slave would be so out of love with life, as to say to his 
Master, " I desire freedom." And the more he was plotting 
for it, the more loving and contented would he appear. 
So, in everything, long habit lias inured them to deception. 
Often, they act the opposite of what they feel, as it seems 
almost involuntarily. 

Their accuracy in reading character from the counte- 
nance and appearance is amazing. This has been their 
life-long study. The deep thought it engenders is taken 
for dullness. Then, many of them are hated, abused, sold 
for resembling their Master, with all the spirit of his 
family swelling and boiling within them. 

How, then, could visitors comprehend them, especially 
when on o;ood terms with their Masters? 

But the book of slavery has not only been sealed by 
ignorance, but by every device and misrepresentation 
which ages of experience, tact, learning, and talent, could 
devise. The Master must make money, that is indispen- 
sable, and anti-slavery notions would ruin his business. 
Therefore they must not, should not prevail, and of this, 
and to prejudice all against the Colored man and in favor 
of slavery, he never loses sight, never ! 

Even now, at Port Royal, the seals of the book of 
slavery have to be forced. If, for instance, persons 
approach the huts of the field hands, they are met at the 



BOOK SEALED HUTS LADIES FREE COLORED. 63 

door by the whole family, who stand right before it, and 
with bows, courtesies, and docile actions and words, would 
beguile you from entering-. This, however, they have 
tact enough to make appear as a mere matter of course. 
When, by a kind remark, you assure them that they arp 
not responsible for their hard case, they receive it grate- 
fully, but still no way can you possibly open to enter the 
hut, until you say decidedly, " I will go in, if you please." 

Still, slavery is a sealed book, for though you have seen 
their wretchedness, you cannot tell it — words cannot do 
it. Most of our ladies at first, burst into tears, look 
around, and go out without speaking. Soon the whole 
abused, ragged group are around them ; with streaming 
eyes, they tell them " that they feel for them, that we have 
come to help them, and to teach them to be worthy of 
freedom, in all their habits." We tell them "that the 
government, and their friends who have long prayed and 
plead for them, are watching to see what they will now 
do ; whether what their Masters have long said is true, 
'that they will be untidy, lazy, and improvident, will 
not work, and cannot take care of themselves.' " At which 
their eyes sparkle, and they say, " We can ! we'll show 
'um !" We tell them how Colored people live at the 
North, have good houses, beautifully dressed and well- 
educated children and family prayers, and sit down at 
table three times daily, to eat all together, so happy!- 
all of which causes them to rejoice amazingly. 

They invariably and warmly accede to all you say ; 
and better still, when reform is made it is permanent, 
remarkably so. This is general testimony. 

And still further, slavery is a sealed book, over the 
vast multitudes who die under its awful rigors, and 
tortures. We cite one, of hundreds of proofs. 

" While attending the Baptist Triennial Convention at 



64: SLAVERY IN SOUTH CAROLINA AND THE EX-SLAVES. 

Richmond, Ya., in 1835," says Mr. C," " I had a con- 
versation with an officer of the Baptist clinrch in that 
city, at whose house I was a guest. I asked him if he 
did not apprehend that the slaves would eventually rise 
and exterminate their Masters ? ' Why,' said the gentle- 
man, ' I did use to apprehend such a catastrophe, but God 
has made a providential opening, a merciful safety valve, 
and now I do not feel alarmed, in the prospect of what is 
coming.' ' What do you mean,' said Mr. Choules, ' by 
Providence opening a merciful safety valve V ' Why,' 
said the gentleman, ' I will tell you. The slave-traders 
come from the cotton and sugar plantations of th'e South, 
and are willing to buy uj? more slaves than we can part 
with. We must keep a stock for the purpose of rearing 
slaves, but we part with the most valuable, and at the 
same time the most dangerous ; and the demand is very 
constant, and is likely to be so, for when they go to those 
Southern States, their average existence is ONLY FIYE 
YEARS !' " 

" The people, including church members, are not 
usually, though some are, better than their laws." f 

Still who, who shall open the seals of this awful book ? 
Would that hosts of able professional men from the North 
were here, to observe critically for themselves, the 
facts belonging to their various professions ; that being 
thus first convinced themselves, they might report more 
adequately. 

But slavery is a sealed book. You, having seen, can- 
not so report appearances but your auditors will get a 
lower opinion of these poor people than they deserve, or 
than you have. Nay, you cannot merely see them, and 

* Baptist minister, formerly of New Bedford, and of Buffalo, 
N.Y. f GroodelTs American Slave Code, pp. 133, 134. 



WHO ? OPEN THE 8EALS OF THE BOOK ? G5 

for ever so long a time, without the same result. You 
must converse with them, take them off their guard, 
watch them when tested, and then, unless they are con- 
vinced your interest is deep, real, heartfelt, you will 
learn little of them. 

But to whom, to whom shall it be given to open the 
seals of this dire book ? Would our Lord enable us to do 
it, we would cheerfully sutler almost anything. Life 
itself looks as nothing to surrender, could we only show 
slavery to the ladies of the North as it is. But, alas ! all 
writers, even the ablest, the best, the most vehement 
against it, using the only and best lights they have, speak 
of those dear saints of God, so individually pure and dear 
to our heart, as a mere mass, or as a great body of 
debasement, and the natural inference of the mind una- 
voidably is, that they are so debased that it is, after all, 
little matter how they are used. So sealed up by 
long, and mean, and bitter obloquy from Masters is their 
true purity of heart and character. 



CHAPTEE XIY. 

SLAVERY A VICE. 

For lie that but conceives a crime, in thought, 
Contracts the danger of an actual fault ; 
Then what must he expect, that still proceeds 
To finish sin, and work up thoughts iu deeds. 

But does one declare the alleged facts of the forego- 
ing chapter, impossibilities ? Listen ! Slavery is a vice ! 
It seizes and grows upon one, and holds him victim, just 
like another vice, as intemperance. He vents all the pas- 
sions of the carnal heart upon his subjects. He glories in 
his mean power, procured under our benign government 
by mere dollars, at a slave pen. He requites himself by 
despotism here at home, for want of power, authority, and 
influence elsewhere. Said a talented officer, " it is not 
so mnch any profit of slavery, or what they get, or look 
for, from it, as a love of dominion, a glory in domineering 
over men, that these slaveholders consider, and are deter- 
mined to keep. But what provokes me," continued he, 
" is to see them put the poor whites below their slaves, 
in every way, and teach the Negroes to insult them, just 
for love of domineering." If, too, slavery is not a vice, 
why do many Masters cause debasement, whipping and 
torture, just in proportion as they become intoxicated or 
debased in other ways \ which is an admitted fact. 

B esides, if whole communities could be thrilled at bull- 

; : s, gladiatorial shows, etc., cannot the most debased 

find gratification in the agonies of a hated race? a race, 

60 



WHITE TRASn CETJELTT — SECRECY — CONGRESSMAN. 67 

too, whose wrongs and sorrows haunt their best mo- 
ments, and horrify their worst, and who, the more they 
are sinned against-, the more they are hated, by an immu- 
table law of mind? 

"But loss of property would prevent cruelty," one 
Bays. Then why does it not prevent all that is dear, yes 
life itself, being lost, yea, even the priceless soul, for the 
wine cup, gambling, or licentiousness ? Is not the gratifi- 
cation of vicious revenge too, or slander, often dearer 
than life, or character itself? Do you, doubter, not be- 
lieve cruelty exists in the human heart ? Certainly. 
And does any evil exist there, which' may not become 
a towering, tyrannical vice ? Does not all vice grow by 
exercise ? "What cruelty too, toward animals, has there 
been in all ages ? and can a man get as angry at a beast 
as at a man ? Can he hate a beast as he can hate a man ? 
Can the natural heart hate a wicked man as it can hate 
a Christian ? Did not God, therefore, obviously never de- 
sign one man to have unlimited power over another? 
And none dare bear witness, for if a slave is killed, other 
slaves dare not even talk of it among themselves, lest 
they suffer the same, that being the rule, especially as 
among those so degraded, there must be some traitors. 
But are you not convinced that one can find more grati- 
fication in cruelty than in gain ? 

A PICTURE. OF A CONGRESSMAN — rROOF. 

On a plantation, every Monday morning, the darkies 
are all assembled. They seem glad to see " Massah," flock 
round him closely as possible. He is going to -have a treat. 
These poor people after working from light until dark, 
upon a peck of corn, the week previous, have washed 
their poor clothes on Sunday morning, done all odd jobs, 



68 SLAVERY IN SOUTH CAROLINA AND THE EX-SLAVES. 

got their wood for tlie week, bringing it home upon their 
heads, and are ready to commence the hopeless toil of 
another week. But Massah must have his gratification, 
and probably he apologizes to himself, or friends, that it 
will make the work go on better. So, behold the Con- 
gressman, elevated, his poor slaves all crowding close as 
possible to the stump or block, well knowing that severity 
in whipping increases with every moment's gratification. 

" Sambo, do you want to be whipped ?" 

" Yes, Massah," and on go cuts enough to lay one not 
used to it, prostrate. 

" That do, Sambo ?" 

" Yes, Massah." 

" Go, Sambo." 

" Good Massah, tank you, Massah.'^ 

" Jim, you want to be whipped ?" he cries to one 
strong enough to push away the rest and be first. 

"Yes, Massah." 

He gets a little more, and with his " Tank you, Massah," 
leaves. And so this dignified gentleman, who, perhaps, 
has kissed a lady's hand in "Washington, treated timid Con- 
gress freely, contemptuously ! goes on, until he whips every 
Negro, including women, and all children old enough to go 
afield, making every punishment more and more severe, 
until the last is nearly prostrated. Then the driver comes 
in for his share ; and one, a man of God, of whom his 
superintendent speaks very highly, calling him a con- 
sistent Christian, told me he had received one hundred 
and fifty lashes, at one time, with their awful whip, com- 
posed of three or five thongs, for nothing but not driving 
harder than -he possibly could. More of this man, soon. 

What a spectacle of the morally sublime was that driver, 
that man, as he stood before us ! What a chance for an 
artist to catch an expression, which would immortalize 



DREADED CONTEMPT — VICE — TOTAL ABSTINENCE. 09 

him ! A beautiful, holy, expression of face is often seen 
when God cometh and dwelleth in man ; but it is usually 
one of joy, of triumph, of bliss, mostly. But here, it was 
all that, mingled with agony, a vivid appreciation of the 
wrong, the injustice of man, in a mind cleared, and inten- 
sified by religion, a holy consciousness of haying a man- 
hood, and a life that the lash, and the still moke dreaded 
shame and contempt could not touch ! and that the Mas- 
ter could not understand. All these, softened by perfect 
love, perfect patience, perfect soul chastening, sat in full 
simplicity upon that face. And some such face fastens 
the gaze in every meeting, and upon most plantations. 
But angels only could draw that expression. It is the 
smile of God, reflected, the smile he gives to those only 
who " have nothing, nothing ! but Jesus." 

"When slavery comes to be regarded as a vice, and 
is treated as such, then, will the testimonies of its advo- 
cates, and victims, be received for what they are actually 
worth. Then will the only cure of any vice, total absti- 
nence, be applied. 

That it is a vice will further appear, from the fact, that 
it vitiates the whole man. Qualities, which before were 
virtues, all shrivel into vices, under its wand. Frugality 
becomes avarice. System, order, punctuality, become tyr- 
anny, despotism, barbarity ; what were dignity, is bru- 
tal imperiousness, as well to the broken-hearted wife, in 
many cases as toward those for whom she vainly inter- 
cedes. Chastity, becomes beastly sensuality; self-respect, 
towering madness at any restraint, or, perchance, in 
serving lordly self in any and every way. Now add all 
this to the fact that the Master has often, never been re- 
strained, in one propensity, in youth, never governed, 
much less subdued, and you who know much of Southern 
society, know this is a fact, and know, too, from all testi- 



TO SLAVERY IN SOUTH CAROLINA AND THE EX-SLAVES. 

many that young lads exercise perfect authority over all 
the Colored on many plantations. We have ourselves 
an instrument of torture, with which a lad of fourteen 
daily amused and "'ratified his premature tyranny, by 
torturing every child on the place, numbering between 
thirty and forty. 

But that some who hold the relation of slaveholder 
are not such in heart, but the direst victims of the sys- 
tem will appear in other chapters, prominent among 
whom, are the wives of these tyrants. 

That slavery is a vice, is further evident, from the fact 
that it absorbs, like all other cherished vices, the whole 
man. Property, reputation, true honor, life, soul, is each 
for a time swallowed up, lost sight of. The one daily 
o'ermastering passion, or vice rules. In the indulgence 
of this vice, so lost are some, that one is amazed at the 
utter waste of money, dignity, good name, family pride, 
life. The scenes that occur, where this vice is rampant, 
almost defy belief, and description, totally. That per- 
sons who sometimes appear manly, will so stoop, is 
almost incredible. The lives of poor slaves then are as 
nothing, or they will sacrifice one — which they can at 
any time legally do if he but lift his hand! to terrify 
the rest. It would absolutely be a comfort — since we 
have been told by such circumstantial and corroborative 
testimony of their barbarities — we say it would be a com- 
fort, to believe that they actually thought them not hu- 
man, so horrid were their cruelties, and sacrifice of life. 
But the government is now responsible. It has got to 
say, " I will not murder" or " I will." Nothing but the 
obliteration of the last jot of power, instanter, can save 
.the awful responsibility and its eternal consequences ! — ■ 
Nothing ! If it does not put an end at once to slavery, we 
are a nation of murderers, willful murderers ! And, if we 



NATIONAL MURDER INNOCENT ONLY AFTER ALL EFFORT. 71 

say as a nation, "I will murder the innocent," whose 
helplessness should appeal to every manly heart, "one 
year, two or ten, or till it is convenient to stop," the soul- 
guilt is the same as if it were continued indefinitely. 
There is no escape. No Northern man, woman or child 
can wipe the mouth, and say, " I am clean," unless they 
each, after learning the facts, shall exert their very utmost 
energy to put away this horrid system. 

Anti-slavery laborers should everywhere be thicker 
and more earnest, and thoroughly prepared, than ever 
political laborers were. 

Then, it is a vice intensified by poverty, avarice, disap- 
pointment, remorse, constant failures. The vice is height- 
ened too by the provocations of grudging, irresponsible un- 
paid, abhorred labor, endless, and most aggravating, and 
perpetually recurring. The Master brings robbery, op- 
pression, agony to the slave ; the slave, just in propor- 
tion to his actual manhood, brings discomfort to the Mas- 
ter. How would you do, in his case, reader ? 

Besides, it is a vice in the hearts and power of a class, 
many of whom are acknowledged by acquaintances, and 
advocates, and friends, to be demented by intermarriages 
of near relatives, a practice strangely common in many 
parts of slavedom, and becoming more and more so. It 
must too, inevitably, become worse and worse yearly, unless 
the dire system is destroyed ; for while the temptations from 
many causes increase, the power to resist them diminishes 
with mental weakness, and will, until, if they remain a 
race of slaveholders, we shall have a race of actual fools, 
by the testimony of their own relatives, who are alarmed, 
as they have assured us. How much of the present 
course of the masses is to be attributed to this even now, 
it is impossible to say, for it is obvious, that let a North- 
ern man be never so wicked, he cannot somehow 



72 SLAVERY IN SOUTH CAROLINA AND THE EX-SLAYES. 

equal them in blind, self-assured impudence, and in not 
seeing or feeling sound obvious reasons, and moral claims 
and relations. "Where is the man in the whole South that 
compares with Jefferson or Patrick Henry ? And how 
evident that, as a whole, they ' are strong only in over- 
bearing, and bluster, and for all this we are all guilty. 

"We, and others, long wondered, and inquired why it 
could be that little innocent toddlers, of two and three 
years, should be whipped daily ? what motive there could 
be for such brutality. But slavery is a vice. Reader, 
can you imagine from thirty, to fifty, little innocents, 
coming up in agony to Mistress, or her son of thirteen, to 
get their morning torture. Yet all this is absolute 
fact, and so common, that the query was passed around 
why, why? it could be? One said, of one, "she got 
provoked at one and so sure as she did, after punish- 
ing that, she punished every child on the plantation" for 
they are all under the care of one Negress, too old to 
work, of seventy or eighty, and in one case one hundred. 
One, thought they believed it made them grow, and 
many other reasons were suggested ; but if slavery is a 
vice, it is explained. The love of oppression, and a de- 
based, carnal nature is gratified. But, farther, we must 
say, that the most plausible reason given was, that it 
broke their spirit effectually, and forever, so that they 
would not even dream of liberty. 

Now, let such a boy become a Congressman, and you 
have there one of the spirits that have caused this re- 
bellion, that have ever moulded compeers, in a way that 
is incredible, and never, never ! should have been tole- 
rated. And these are the men that this day seem to rule 
this nation, actually, though just now behind the curtain. 
These are the men that must be conciliated ! As well 
conciliate the evil one himself. These men are the per- 



SHALL SLAVERY BE DESTROYED ? — AT ONCE? 73 

sons that must not be exasperated ; as well not exas- 
perate the raving maniac. But its exhibitions, as a vice, 
are almost endless. Shall it be destroyed ? at once ? Speak, 
ye who make rulers. 



CHAPTEE XY. 

SLAVES HELD FEOM NECESSITY. 

Who bears no trace of passion's evil force t 
Who shuns thy sting, horrible Remorse ? 

Who does not cast 
On the thronged pages of his memory's book 
At times, a sad and half-reluctant look, 

Regretful of the past ? Whittier. 

That slavery or oppression is a vice, is further proven from 
the fact, that those who are as kind to those under them, as 
they know how to be, or as kind as they have liberty of 
law ! to be in slavedom, are universally opposed to it. We 
challenge all investigation and proof to the contrary, 
on this point. But how shall we know that a given Mas- 
ter is kind ? Appearances are nothing, though never so 
good, and never so long continued. Testimony of slaves so 
long as they are under his power, is nothing ; for if you 
are on any terms with " Massah," such as even to permit 
you to stay upon the plantation, they will not trust you, 
sooner than they will him, with complaints. Their only 
hope is in propitiating their demon of a driver, or over- 
seer, for they know "Massah, he won't interfere, he 
won't let Nigger speak 'bout driver or 'bout oberseer. 
You can't tell him when you lick'd, 'thout get mo'." 

Then, to come at the truth, as to whether any one Mas- 
ter is kind, even to the very limited extent of his power, 
by law, and over the driver and the overseer, you must 
be invisibly present at the startings for work, before 

74 



DARE SPEAK — KIXD ONES NOT FOR SLAVERY. 75 

light, or at the weighings and settlings up of tasks aftei 
dark in the lone place, far away from the plantation 
dwelling — for we cannot say "plantation mansions" since 
we have seen them — or, you must take them, as we did, 
when Massah being gone forever, as they fully believe, 
they dare speak. We do not say that in every case the 
Master does, not intend to be truthful. But, alas ! -what 
can he know unless present ? and where is the Master 
that will be present in both twilights of every day ? Or, 
where is the Master that dare interfere if he is, to the 
subversion of all plantation system, order, and success ? 

But of all, every one, of whom their people, now free to 
speak truthfully, assert that they were kind, wait a 
moment and listen ! and they invariably assert of them, 
" O, dey was not for slavery ! Dey did not believe in 
slavery !" One said, " O Missus, my Massah was the 
kindest, best man ! Bless you ; he not for slavery ! Oh, 
you ought to seen him walk 'at yard dere, with his hands 
crossed behind his back, and sigh, and sigh; and he 
speak so kind to you, and to de chiln, it make you cry. 
O ! he not for slavery ! h*e not for dis war. Oh, he de 
innocentest, best man. But, bless you, he couldn't do 
nothing, Missus was all for slavery. She not very hard ; 
not hab you cut up, like mos' of dem, but she tight 'bout 
work — very tight. She all. for slavery. Laws, Massah 
couldn't do nothing ; he heart mos' broke. Oh,, he good 
man ! good man !" 

Of another it was said : " Dat minister say ' he would 
not own slave ; if he hab so much gold, he walk on it for 
pavement.' He not for slavery ! But he wife, great for 
slavery ; she own all de slaves, he can't do nothing !" 

" I wonder he was not afraid to speak his mind so 
freely here." 

" Why, bless you, Missus, dey knew 'at Missus great 



76 SLAVERY IN SOUTH CAROLINA AND THE EX-SLAVES. 

for slavery. Dey knew she hab own way. Dey didn't 
mind what lie bay. But he good man, good preacher." 

Three superior Colored women also testified to one- 
kind Master. They said : "We could hab libed wid Mas- 
sah and Missus foreber; dey kind. But 'twas de oder 
folks dere; de 'lations 'bout de house 'at make us have 
tight times wid work, get cut up. But Massah and Missus 
wa'nt hard, though he pretty tight for work. Sometimes 
give you task to take till dark, oder times get done long 
befo' night, 'bout dis time. O! he not hard; he not 
much for slavery, nor Missus eider. We could lib wid 
dem foreber, if 'twant fo' de oder folks dere. Dey all for 
slavery !" 

The only other case of a kind Missus, we heard of in 
conversation with the Colored on twent} -five plantations, 
and in town, was from a light, genteel Colored woman, 
and her companions. They said "Missus did all she 
thought she could, for we. She couldn't do no mo'. She 
not hard, she not for slavery. She pray and plead 'gainst 
dis war at first. Den she pray and pray ! God, to take 
her, fo' it cum. He did. He take her ! She die just 
ten days befo' the taking of Hilton Head. She just scape 
ail 'at confusion. Young Massah gone, we don't know 
where. She done all she could wid him, for we. Oh she 
was good Missus, good Christian." 

These owners, were the victims, not of slavery as a 
vice, dearer, than all else, but as a system. 

But docs one ask, " Why did they not free their 
slaves?" We answer, how could they in a land where 
Thomas Jefferson with all his power, and abilities, and 
efforts,- could not free his own children — as common 
report called them — but in his last will he himself " im- 
plores the legislature of Virginia, to confirm its bequests, 
witli permission to remain in the State where their fami- 



DK. NELSON "WEEPING OVER SLAVERY — POLICY. 77 

lies and connections are, then, dying under the uncer- 
tainty wnether his requests would be granted, or his 

children sold into the rice swamps ! One of his daugh- 
ters, it seems, was afterward sold at auction, at the harem 
price ! And his grand-daughter was colonized, to Libe- 
ria 'coerced' perhaps by the 'cart whip. 5 A land of 
liberty for white people is it, when a Jefferson cannot 
bequeath liberty to his own children ! In Georgia, had 
he lived there the attempt would have been an ' offence' 
for which his estate would have been subjected to a fine 
of a thousand dollars, and each of his executors if accept- 
ing the trust to a thousand more."* 

So was it with Dr. Nelson, eminent for patriotism, learn- 
ing and piety, whose work upon Infidelity is one of the 
most efficient popular appeals that has ever appeared. 
The following is from one of his letters :f 

"I have resided in North Carolina more than forty 
years, and been intimately acquainted with the system, 
and I can scarcely even think of its operations without 
shedding tears. It causes me excessive grief to think of 

MY OWN POOR SLAVES, for wllOIll I HAVE FOR YEARS BEEN 

trying to find a free home. It strikes me with equal 
astonishment and horror to hear Northern people make 
light of slavery. Had they seen and known as much of 
it as I, they could not thus treat it, unless callous to the 
deepest woes and degradation of humanity, and dead 
both to the religion and philanthropy of the Gospel. But 
many of them are doing just what the hardest-hearted 
tyrants of the South most desire. Those tyrants would 
not, on any account, have them advocate, or even apolo- 
gize for slavery in an unqualified manner. This would 

* Goodell's American Slave Code, p. 375. 
f Key to Uncle Tom's Cabin. 



73 SLAVERY IN SOUTH CAROLINA AND THE EX-SLAYES. 

be bad policy with the North. I wonder that Gerritt 
Smith should understand slavery so much better than 
most of the Northern, people. How true was his remark, 
on a certain occasion, namely, that the South are laugh- 
ing in their sleeves, to think what dupes they make of 
most of the people at the North in regard to the real cha- 
racter of slavery ! Well did Mr. Smith remark that the 
system, carried out on its fundamental principle, would 
as soon enslave any laboring white man as an African. 
But, if it were not for the support of the North, the fabric 
of Hood would fall at once. And of all the efforts of 
public bodies at the North to sustain slavery, the Connec- 
ticut General Association has made the best one. I have 
never seen anything so well constructed in that line as 
their resolutions of June, 1836. The South certainly 
could not have asked anything more effectual. But, of 
all Northern periodicals, the 'New York Observer' must 
have the preference, as an efficient support of slavery. 1 
am not sure but it does more than all the things com 
bined to keep the dreadful system alive. It is just the 
succor demanded by the South. Its abuse of the aboli- 
tionists is music in Southern ears, which operates as a 
charm." 

If Jefferson, and Dr. Nelson, then, could not free their 
slaves what could poor lone women do? Crushed for a 
life time beneath the awful car of slavery, acting up to 
the law of love, according to the light they had, weary 
of slavery, and sick of soul, this poor woman with one 
other of similar piety and bondage to cruel laws for 
whites! turned to the bosom of God and begged and 
begged for reception there by death, before the awful 
judgments, they saw impending should come. And God 
reached -down and " took them and drew them, from the 
great waters, and from the hands of strange children." 



CHAPTER XYI. 

BOND AND FREE SEEVANTS. 

Woe to all who grind 
Their brethren of a common Father down ! 

To all who plunder from the immortal mind, 
Its bright and glorious crown ! 

Had we to be pat in prison, or upon a plantation or 
town estate, with the government of fourteen or sixteen or 
more slaves, as was the usual number in these large 
houses, we should deliberately choose the former even 
were the sin, of slavery, left out of the question. 

To drive on in all the minutiae of house labor — to com- 
pel care, in unwilling, grudging, revengeful hearts, — and 
revenge in some, has rankled desperately, and deep and 
long, and just in proportion to their ability, wrongs, and 
apparent docility — to force matters to desirable results — 
to attend to the buying, and making, of all garments, and to 
the health, of inefficient mothers, their children, everything, 
or have all go to wreck — to direct and invigorate and 
bring to proper issue the abortive efforts of aimless, hope- 
less, ambitionless labor, were a task, such as mortal can 
scarcely conceive of, and God never imposed upon man, 
and which no man, having the feelings and principles of a 
gentleman could impose upon a wife, provided he knew 
a better way. 

Our little experience has already shown us, that were 
we to undertake this slave work, the lash must be the 

79 



80 SLAVERY EST SOUTH CAROLINA AND THE EX-SLAVE3. 

mainspring — and from its very nature, it is a mainspring 
that cannot aid with constancy, power, effect. 

Never did we so pity ladies in any condition as such, 
obliged to meet the responsibilities of their station, with 
grudging servants, whose whole aim was to escape the 
curse, labor, and who were perfect adepts in the science 
of how not to do it. The Northern lady with her one, or 
two hired servants, competent, energetic, ambitious, is 
comparatively free from care, and lives often too easily. 
The Southerner with her fourteen, sixteen or more and 
the whole responsibility and care of all of them and their 
children, finds in each slave, weight enough to crush her. 
No wonder that they who can afford it, shut up house, 
and often a large part of the year. If we never believed 
their assertion, that "it was the mistress that was the 
slave," we do now, most cordially, from some weeks' 
experience with their servants. Oh why do men hold on 
to sin, the world over, just in proportion to its costliness 
its enervating, paralyzing, destroying power ? But so 
under the sanctions of human nature, it ever is. One 
would think, one week of the sorrows of the drunken, 
dishonest, or cruel man were enough to wean him forever. 
So, one would think that one week of irresponsible, aim- 
less unpaid labor were enough. It was enough for ns. 
Our servants being detailed by the military power, and 
rationed, obligation to the government seemed to forbid 
explicit bargaining. Their future freedom too, being still 
clothed with doubt, all was chaos, as before. Every 
domestic thing therefore, seemed in our beginning here, 
to come short, as far as servants were concerned, either 
in the conception, execution, or " punctual delivery," and 
the more help, the worse, so that our efficient ladies began 
to look npon domestic responsibilities, with discourage- 
ment. Everything here, too, is so ill adjusted. Your 



QUARTERS — THE EREDE— REMARK OF A SLAVEHOLDER. 81 

kitchen or quarters being down six or eiglft steps, across 
a hot, sandy yard, up as many more steps into a small 
room, with either too hot a fire on the hearth, or 
none, and the sun pouring in at the door, servants who 
had either " forgot" or found it " onpossible," to do your 
Lidding, quarters too dirty after repeated scrapings, and 
scrubbing*, to sit down in, even did the room and the 
heat allow. Nothing remains, but to go into the "big 
house " and wait a time and go out and find some other 
" onpossibility " had intervened. One would think the 
young bride so situated, if conscience, or some other 
principle, did not forbid, would straightway follow 
Judas. 

A lady, a slaveholder, calmly said, " Before I "would 
have my daughters suffer what I have, in the care of my 
work, and servants, I would give up every slave I've got, 
lose every cent, and take my children and beg. But still 
slavery, is none of the business of you Northerners." 
Then murder is none of the business of him who sees it, 
and might interfere, and does not. But, it is a great mis- 
take, that because Southerners have so many house-ser- 
vants, they do not work so hard. They do, each and 
every one, has a harder time than one, North, who does 
all the work for a family, for their mistakes, dilemmas, 
shirkings, repinings, plannings, explainings, deliberations, 
commandings, resistings, domineerings, and all the fur- 
ther " ings," you can, or please to add, are a thousand 
fold more wearing and tiresome, than cheerful work. 
Beside so many " onpossibilities," etc., etc. But all this 
disappears when free labor comes, and shirking is out of 
mind. 



4* 



CHAPTER XVII. 

FKEE LABOK. 

Come hither ye that press your beds of down, 
And sleep not : see him sweating- o'er his bread 
Before be eats it. 'Tis the primal curse, 
But ripened into mercy : mark the pledge 
Of cheerful clays, and nights without a groan. 

But here comes in the remedy, free labor ! free labor ! 
These servants have been chosen with care, and detailed 
for us, by the noble and chivalrous Military, who look with 
great, just, scrutiny, upon our efforts. "We give them 
presents ; still their relation to us, and to the government 
as well as their future, is a little cloudy v "We having come 
to befriend the Colored, must succeed with them ourselves. 
"We must not make a failure ! as we are doing. Something 
effective must be done, and we ask wisdom. In the 
course of the day, we find opportunity to say, to them, 
separately, about thus, " There is a great difference in the 
treatment of servants in the Xorth, and South, we never 
whip or drive, or in general, talk very much to them. 
"We wait until we are sure they understand us, and know 
how, and when, we want things done, we talk always 
very gently to them, and explain our wishes clearly, and 
kindly. Then, if they do not remember, or do not do 
what we tell them, we often just go and hire others, 
before they know it, because if they do not try to please 
us, we infer, that they do not like our service, and as we 

82 



CAPACITIF.S IMPROVING UXDER FREE LABOR — FREE HOMES. 83 

do not warn trouble about it, we get otlicK and let them 
go." Immediately everything brightens. Capacities to 
hear, understand, remember, and accomplish, were sud- 
denly and wonderfully developed, and everything went 
far better. But the stimulus of free labor, must be used 
like strong medicines, cautiously. In our ignorance we 
applied too much, and did injury. Our slippery Simon, 
ran the right way too fast. Peter, in spite of warnings 
from the ladies, scrubbed so very hard and nicely, and 
lifted so much at boxes, that he fell sick — John, too, the 
reliable, was somewhat ill — James was too much of a 
legalist, and being a little deaf escaped sickness— Susan, 
too, was sick. These ailments were real as was also their 
regret, at not being able to do for us. Our ladies began 
to exclaim, " We shall kill our servants by our energetic 
Northern manners." " We have got to be careful of 
them." 

The impetus and enthusiasm of free labor, is so new, 
and the strange excitement such a tax upon their systems, 
that care must be used. Many will smile incredulously 
at this, but experience, under right influences and stimuli, 
will prove the truth of the assertion. Take a Colored 
laborer North or South and he accomplishes in a given 
half hour, less than a white. But in the day or week, 
circumstances being equal, he often does more, more qui- 
etly, and usually does it better. We appeal to facts well 
attested by those who have tried both races. However, 
our Simon, Peter and John are all doing well, and James 
is permitted to be absent. 

If any think we have too many servants, let them 
remember, that in this land, where two women yet grind 
at the mill, and cotton is carded and spun as it was cen- 
turies since, everything to be done begins with the crea- 
tion. 



84: SLAVERY IN SOUTH CAROLINA AND THE EX-SLAYES. 

To our chambermaid we said — " I should think your 
Mistress used to talk to you, all the time about your 
work, did she not ?" 

" All de time, Missus." 

" Well we do not ; we tell once how we want things 
done, then, our servants remember and while they work, 
we often talk of other things, and they take more and 
more pains every day, to please us, and so learn to love 
to do things, just right. Would not that be pleasant ?" 

" Yes, Missus," said Phebe, her downcast eyes raised 
to ours with a new animation, and a most perceptible 
improvement, resulted. Still the fruits of slavery hang 
on every bough, and long — long — will. 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

HEART SERVICE. 

All our actions take ' 
Their hues from the complexion of the heart, 
As landscapes their variety from light. Baco>t. 

This, beloved reader, if a slaveholder, you have never, 
never known. The sweetness of being served by those 
who freely prefer you, to all others in the world. 

"We would rather encounter again, all the difficulties 
connected with hired servants of our whole life, than those 
with which we met in a few weeks only, iu connection 
with your former slaves. While not being hired, they had 
no especial new motive for serving us, so they were 
docile, but far less efficient than when hired. 

We are candid and truthful. Do you believe it ? The 
labor of driving a fellow-being through the world, is in- 
credible. To have every act done for you without inte- 
rest, is heart-sickening positively ! That they have ever 
thus served you, is fully proven to others, whether you 
believe it or not. 

But you think it dignified to own them. Yes! if it 
is dignified to be ruled by them, it is dignified to own 
them, or rather pretend to ; for you cannot own them 
without their ruling you ; causing you to run after them, 
scold them, be angered by them, made unhappy by 
them ; forever keeping you waiting, teasing, disappoint- 
ing, thwarting, annoying you ; leading you into all un- 
amiable and wretched and life-killing states of mind, and 

86 



86 SLAVERY ra" SOUTH CAROLINA. AND TIIE EX-SLAVES. 

causing you at last to imbrute yourselves, in punishing 
them, thus at their pleasure or revenge forcing you to the 
meanest of all services, at all times, and to the inevitable 
pangs of a guilty conscience. They can too, and do ! bind 
you to the bar of God, and to the terrible retributions of 
Eternity, by their awful imprecations of divine vengeance, 
for their wrongs — appeals which the God of the poor, 
the needy, and him that hath no helper, is pledged not to 
forget, and whom he first hears and avenges. 

Now, your hearts concede the truth of all the above, 
in most cases, at least. Oh, are you not weary? Will 
you not permit a fellow-sinner to plead with you? to 
help you? These evils are in the system, and insepar- 
able from it ; not originally in you. You cannot reverse 
that system, that sense of right, of manhood, or love of 
liberty while God is God, and man is man. 

Will you not read the Scriptures upon this point of op- 
pressing, turning aside the stranger from his right, rob- 
bing the poor ? Then must you see that all the impreca- 
tions of righteous judgment, of vengeance, of all who 
have ever suffered, under the system, you use and up- 
hold in all their privations, tortures and deaths, will fall 
upon you and yours. 

We surely are not superstitious. But truly, rather 
than have these imprecations resting upon our head and 
the heads of our children, we say before God, we 
would cheerfully beg our bread with them. Yea, thank- 
fully. 

Hath not God promised that he will hear the cry of 
the poor, the sighing of the needy, and that he will arise * 
to judgment, to save the meek, of the earth ? 

What has slavery done for you — what ? Pray look 
candidly at it. But yon say, I cannot work, and if I give 
up my slaves, I give up all. 



HARDENED SUDDENLY CUT OFF SHOCK OF WnirriNGS. 87 

Yes, you may give up all, if you give them up. But 
if tou do not, you may, nud must, give up life. " For 
lie that being often reproved, hardeneth liis neck, sliall 
suddenly be cut off, and that without remedy." How 
often have you seen this verified ? How terribly now ! 
So you have the word of God, commanding you to give 
up your sin or your life. Oh, may God help and bless 
you. But should you give up all and be poor, all the 
North is before you, labor is most honorable, and is it 
not as honorable, in integrity, in purity, to sit at sewing, 
as, filled with sense of guilt, and under the censure of the 
whole humanitarian, just, and Christian world, to drive 
around, and chase up and clown, by day and night, a set 
of grudging, revengeful Negroes ? To be their servant 
when sick, and whenever they so will it ? Now, at the 
North, when servants do well, we get the benefit ; if 
they do not, there are those to take the drudgery of 
attending to them, while we go quietly about honorable 
duties. We are never laid under the awful worry and 
responsibility of deciding that a man or woman shall be 
punished. Money could not induce, nor power compel 
us to cause the worst, so to suffer by our individual 
order. Never, never ! Laws attend to all that, by ap- 
propriate officers and methods. vVe have no drudgery 
of serving servants, unless we choose it, freely. But, 
on the contrary, the most excellent help, usually. 

In two cases, we have had the services of most compe- 
tent girls two years, while neighbors were offering them 
hio-her wages. Yet for this long time, and until mar- 
riage in one case, and removal in another, intervened, 
were they heart and hand, with us. Of course, presents 
were not wanting, for we could not permit one to suffer 
by remaining with us ; still as we gave high wages, we 
did not think it right or proper under the circumstances, 



88 SLAVERY IN SOUTH CAROLINA AND THE EX-SLAVES. 

to increase them. "We do not set ourselves up as a stand- 
ard, far from it ; others have done far, far better. But 
almost first, among the blessings of our life, have been, 
dear, excellent servants, who were ours indeed and in 
truth, and, because ours in perfect freedom to leave, ours 
in heart. The number of ways in which they saved our 
money, comfort, and credit, and showed interest, zeal and 
love for the family, was amazing, and so it has been in 
most other cases. We say these plain, humiliating things, 
with the hope of influencing some candid ladies. 

Our servants in South Carolina, so soon as they felt the 
spur, the animation, and the responsibility of free labor, 
began to improve, and now in eight weeks time, one does 
as much as two did, and does it better, and more easily, 
and has more spare time. They are far more respectful, 
more thoughtful, and with their present hilarity, four- 
fold more competent, of care-taking. 

Oh we do pity you, who have been born and reared 
under this system, who have never, never ! known the 
luxury of free service. 

But does one ask what we do with incompetent ser- 
vants ? We answer, First, we show them sweetly, and after 
a few days, or at most a few changes, they become com- 
petent. It is amazing how the feeblest intellect soon 
succeeds, under the stimulus of free labor. But, if they 
cannot or do not, there is ample and kind provision for 
them, and nobody is imbruted in the process. 

The blessings of free, competent, happy, honest labor 
may be yours ; will you have them ? We use the word 
imbruted above. We know it is very, very severe. But 
if it does not imbrute a lady to send one of her own 
sex to all the exposure, licentiousness, agony, of a public 
whipping, what can, what does ? Yet the system abso- 
lutely compels this, in many cases, for the lash is the 



PUBLIC WHIPPING — THEIR FATE EQUAL SODOM'S. 89 

only force, and the mistress cannot use it, nor let per- 
fect chaos reign in her house. ! let's away with the 
fonl system. But it is duty to give one or move ac- 
count of these awful whipmngs. 

A slaveholder flogged a little slave girl, and put her 
feet in the stocks. She was found dead. A prominent 
lawyer, of a respectable family, was asked " whether 
the murderer of this little helpless child could not be 
indicted. 7 ' He coolly replied that " the slave was Mr. 
P.'s 'property, and if he chose to suffer the loss, no one 
else had any thing to do with it." (Vide Weld's 
" Slavery As It Is," p. 54.) 

The slave child was " property," and had only been 
used ! "It is believed that no record exists of a white 
man having been executed in the United States, simply 
for the murder of a slave" (MSS. by Judge Jay.) 

The subjoined account was written by the benevolent 
Dr. Howe, whose labors in behalf of the blind have ren- 
dered his name dear to humanity, and was sent in a letter 
to the Hon. Charles Sumner. If any one thinks it too 
painful to be perused, let him ask himself if God will 
hold those guiltless who suffer a system to continue, the 
details of which they cannot even read. That this 
describes a common scene in the calaboose, we shall by 
and by produce other witnesses to show. Dr. H. says : 

" I have passed ten days in ]STew Orleans, not unprofit- 
ably, I trust, in examining the public institutions — the 
schools, asylums, hospitals, prisons, etc. With, the excep- 
tion of the first, there is little hope of amelioration. I 
know not how much merit there may be in their system ; 
but I do know that, in the administration of the penal 
code, there are abominations which should bring down 
the fate of Sodom upon the city. If Howard or Mrs. Fry 
ever discovered so ill-administered a den of thieves as the 



90 SLAVERY IN SOUTH CAROLINA AND THE EX-SLAVES. 

"New Orleans prison, they never described it. In the 
Negroes' apartment I saw much which made me blush 
that I was a white man, and which, for a moment, stirred 
up an evil spirit in. my animal nature. Entering a large 
paved court-yard, around which ran galleries filled with 
slaves of all ages, sexes, and colors, I heard the snap of a 
^whip, every stroke of which sounded like the sharp crack 
of a pistol. I turned my head, and beheld a sight which 
absolutely chilled me to the marrow of my bones, and 
gave me, for the first time in my life, the sensation of 
my hair stiffening at the roots. There lay a black girl 
flat upon her face, on a board, her two thumbs tied, and 
fastened to one end, her feet tied, and drawn tightly to 
the other end, while a strap passed over the small of her 
back, and, fastened around the board, compressed her 
closely to it. Below the strap she was entirely naked. 
By her side, and six feet off, stood a huge Negro, with a 
long whip, which he applied with dreadful power and 
wonderful precision. Every stroke brought away a strip 
of skin, which clung to the lash, or fell quivering on the 
pavement, while the blood followed after it. The poor 
creature writhed and shrieked, and, in a voice which 
showed alike her fear of death and her dreadful agony, 
screamed to her Master, who stood at her head, " O, spare 
my life ! don't cut my soul out !" But still fell the hor- 
rid lash ; still strip after strip peeled off from the skin ; 
gash after gash was cut in her living flesh, until it 
became a livid and bloody mass of raw and quivering 
muscle. It was with the greatest difficulty I refrained 
from springing upon the torturer, and arresting his lash ; 
but, alas ! what could I do, but turn aside to hide my 
tears for the sufferer, and my blushes for humanity? 
This was in a public and regularly-organized prison ; the 
punishment was one recognized and authorized by the 



THE PUBLICITY OF PUNISIIMENT BRUTAL MASTER. 91 

law. But think you the poor wretch had committed a 

heinous offence, and had been convicted thereof, and . 
tenced to the lash ? Not at all. She was brought by 
her Master to be whipped by the common executioner, 
without trial, judge or jury, just at his beck or nod, for 
some real or supposed offence, or to gratify his own 
whim or maTice. And he may bring her day after day, 
without cause assigned, provided only he pays the fee. 
Or, if he choose, he may have a private whipping-board 
on his own premises, and brutalize himself there. A 
shocking part of this horrid punishment was its publicity, 
as I have said ; it was in a court-yard surrounded by gal- 
leries, which were filled with Colored persons of all sexes 
— -runaway slaves, committed for some crime, or slaves 
up for sale. You would naturally suppose they crowded 
forward, and gazed, horror-stricken, at the brutal specta- 
cle below ; but they did not ; many of them hardly 
noticed it, and many were entirely indifferent to it. They 
went on in their childish pursuits, and some were laugh 
ing outright in the distant parts of the galleries ; so low 
can man, created in God's image, be sunk in brutality." 



CHAPTER XIX. 

SOUTHERN "CHIVALRY. 

'Tis only change of pain, 
A bitter change, severer for severe, 
The day too short for my distress, and night, 
Even in the zenith of her dark domain, 
Is sunshine to the color of my fate. Youxg. 

From Adam, the curse of God glanced to the ground, 
"but it fell upon poor woman, and both her sorrow and 
conception, are multiplied. But will not grace at last 
triumph ? Will not heaven be fuller ? 

Never, never ! did we realize the curse, as in South 
Carolina, in the case of poor slave women. That there 
should he so much in poor woman's nature, that can be 
taken advantage of by barbaric natures, to torture, to 
kill, to debase her — debasement, surely, worse than 
death. If any one is troubled with doubts, as to future 
retribution, let him come here, and, without a word of 
argument, or even revelation, he will be a full believer in 
the fact, of future punishment, provided, he believes in 
the existence of a just God. 

To commence then, saying, what were it not for a just 
indignation, our heart would shrink from, yea, refuse say- 
ing but which, under such promptings, it says, and dares 
and challenges the whole world, to hear, and conjures it 
to censure, to 'disprove, or to remedy. It charges every 
man who has a mother, a sister, or who has, or hopes to 
have, one dearer still, to clo the one, or the other, by 

92 



CHARGE TO ALL — MEST MAURY — KEEN PENETRATION". 93 

• 

every power lie possesses, and not only every man, luit 
every woman, every child. Yea, it not only challenj 
it begs you to look candidly at the caso. It begs with 
woman's tears ! Will you, reader, refuse ? Oh, no ! You 
are manly, you will not. 

In the name of God and humanity, then, we charge 
every man as far as lies within him, and no man knows 
what lies within him while in supine inaction, every man 
who deserves the name, to exert himself until he can say, 
before the womanhood of the world, yea, before God, I 
have done all I could ; all ! even to the offering of my life. 

To begin then. The young girls must marry. But, 
usually, mild means are effectual, in a most affectionate 
race, where we have seen a love that actually made us 
believe the sacred thing is yet in the world, in spite of the 
fashionable life we have been obliged to see. For these 
j^oor, broken-down slaves, the moment they see you have 
a real sympathy for them, will almost invariably say, 
" Oh, I must show Missus my wife, or my husband," and 
with a love, that graces few pompous halls, they run to 
different cabins and bring the homeliest of old men or 
women, gazing at them as if they were angels. You try 
hard to look a little admiration, too, for their comfort, 
but you are amazingly afraid their keen penetration, has 
read the opposite, or at least, the lack of it. This fre- 
quent practice, is prompted, evidently, only by the poor 
loving heart. 

So they bring their descendants, calling them their 
chil'n even past three " greats " in some instances. So 
that evidently from this, and numberless instances we 
could name, the Colored, are the most affectionate race 
living. Of course, a race that can so love, must be able 
to quarrel. But this is rare. 

But, never, in all the miserable cabins we have entered, 



94 SLAVERY IN SOUTH CAROLINA AND THE EX-SLATES. 

and under all the different circn instances, in which we 
have seen them, even having husband and wife, both 
working together, for us, have we seen even a look be- 
tween them that implied censure of each other. Never ! 
But to proceed. The poor bride is cheated even of, or 
in, the cheap ceremony, and feels it keenly, as is shown 
by many thankfully embracing the first privilege of being 
married even amid the scorn of fellows, and surrounded 
by their adult children. In other cases they say, "Missus, 
de Lord marry us, we live togedder better, dan 'em white 
folks, married by priest, sights better." 

But instances are ' many, where they were made to 
believe that any man, who could read, could lawfully 
marry, and they say, " Missus, Tse married in de matri- 
mony, wid de book." 

But, in deepest anguish, when the heart is breaking 
over the sale of husband, or wife, they are often given tp 
know that the horrid farther South, will be the penalty 
of failing to select another. 

So does the cold, slimy hand of avarice lay its foulness 
upon the holiest, and the best. 

Now the thoughtlessness, the jolity, of youth is passed 
with the poor bride, and all the woman stirs, wakes, 
rises, in her soul. Now the true tyranny over her poor 
nature commences, and if they can suffer it,can'twe write 
it ? cannot you read it ? 

To facts, then. Going into a cabin, on a plantation, 
belonging to a man, who pretends to be a respectable 
citizen of a Northern city, our eyes were met by the 
large, brown, soft, tremulous, eyes, of a small sized, deli- 
cately formed, fine looking woman, holding an infant of 
a few days upon her lap. She was beautiful, evidently 
of a most refined nature, and with countenance of one 
of the best expressions we ever beheld. 



" NEBER STRONG " " NEBER TINE YOU DIE." 95 

" You seem very weak indeed," said we. 

" Oh, yes, Missus, I never gets strong now, no mo' ! 
no mo' !" 

" That is a beautiful boy at your feet ; how many 
children have you 'P 

" Six, Missus, now. But I'se lost five." 

" What, not you ! so young !" 

" Yes, Missus, I'se lost five, and six libin'." 

" My poor woman ! what was the disease ?" 

" Oh, no disease, Missus, strainin' and workin' so 
hard in de fiel', sometimes dead born, all mash! some- 
times lib little while, neber ober tree or four weeks 
scarcely." 

" But surely, I should think after one such result, or 
two at least, their own interest would prevent such 
cruelty." 

" Oh, no ! Missus, dey neber tink you die, or chil'n 
die till gone." 

Oh that we could give the soft, plaintive, patient tone 
and manner in which all this was said, " softening our 
Saxon words, with Afric's mellow tongue." These 
words seem, in reading, as rude, but spoken, they are 
wonderfully soft, melting, and winning. She went on in 
that chastened way, as if past all complaining or vin- 
dictiveness. 

" You neber 'lowed to drop you hoe till labor 'pon 
yon, neber ! no matter how bad you feel, you neber 
'lowed to stop till you go in bed, neber !" 

Incredible ! for those awful hoes are judged to weigh 
variously from six to nine, or even twelve pounds, as a 
Bostonian judged, of some, and the large handle is from 
six to eight feet long. " How awful ! But why not speak 
to the overseer or driver ?" 

" Oh, Missus ! 'at aint 'lowed, can't do 'at. Beside, if 



96 SLAVERY IN SOUTH CAROLINA AND THE EX-SLAVES. 

lie not drive you 5 lie only get cut up 'self, can't do you 
no good." 

" Oh, it is awful ! But you can't hoe all the yeai 
round, then you can't always suffer so, can you ?" 

"Den, Missus, when can't hoe, hab to go into de 
riber and bring up de mud in baskets and tubs, to rich 
de land." 

" But you don't do that certainly when in such a 
situation ?" 

" Hab to do it, Missus, hab to do it to de very hou' 
you sick." 

Now ought not that man to strut well upon Broad- 
way, or Washington, or Chestnut streets, or at Newport 
or Saratoga? when he does it, at such expense? If he 
only have enough such women, how finely can he dress, 
and fawn to, and fascinate Northern ladies. He ought to 
be painted, with himself and all his estates, honors, 
titles, resting upon rows of such women, since they are 
the only basis, and foundation, of his dignity. Would 
you any more touch his hand, except in a work of 
necessity, or mercy, than a viper ? Would you soonei 
entertain him, at your table, as an honored guest, than 
the lowest prostitute ? Would you ? Slavery has been 
dignified as an awful sin long enough. It ought to be 
treated as it is, as the most despicable, of all meannesses. 
Seldom have we communed with a more delicate, beauti- 
ful, refined, mother than this, for it does actually seem 
that the adornments denied to the poor life, were in 
many cases here, put upon the soul — how we did love her! 

But we were prepared to hear of awful suffering at 
the last, from such labors, and inquired how it was. 

" Oh, Missus, awful ! I'se so awful sick, tree days and 
tree nights ! den dey hab to go to Beaufort for white 
doctor [after she had gone all the rounds of ignorant 



OBSTREPEROUSNESS FALSE PROMISES. 97 

practice] and lie hab to use force, Missus, force, 'cause 
my poo' body so weak wid work in de fiel' ! couldn't do 
nothing." 

Strut ! slaveholder, strut ! show your obstreperousncss 
to those who lick your hands for mean paltry dollars, or 
rather for false promises'! You strut, at great expense! 
do it well, and so as to strike Northern sapheads, and 
steel hearts. 

" Then yon, so weak, surely could do nothing, or no 
work, at least, for a long time," said we to the poor, 
dear woman. 

" Hab to do it, Missus, whether can or not Hab to go 
in fiel' in tree or always fou' weeks and keep up w r id 'e 
men 'e very first day and all time, or else get cut up so 
awful !" 

Kiss the Northern lady's hand, slaveholder ! You 
have many such women, and can afford the expense of 
drives, and balls, and revels, and, if funds get low, you 
can just send and have that bright, beautiful boy, or 
that babe, or even that pure mother sold, and to the 
lowest villain that walks the earth, provided he can steal, 
cheat or gamble into money enough. Our laws, or 
rather suffrances, deliver over that beautiful refined 
woman to your, and his, merciless power. 

" Oh, my poor sister," said we, " soon I hope you will 
be free, and have a dear home of your own, with your 
beautiful children and that noble man, your husband, of 
whom the superintendent speaks so highly, as a laborer, 
a man, and a Christian." 

" Oh, he is a good man ! Missus," said she. And we 
left her, with her beautiful ejes swimming with tears of 
love, and hope. . "If" this government dashes those, and 
such hopes, God will blast it, and good men will curse 
it, and the heavenly host will cry amen! Allelujah ! 

5 



98 SLAYEET W SOUTH CAROLINA AND THE EX-SLAVES. 

This is actually a sample of many cases, like in all 
respects, especially as to the extent, in time, and severity 
of suffering, and weakness, consequent, upon such 
incredible taxing of the poor body. 



CHAPTER XX. 



INCIDENTS IN SLATE WOMAN'S LIFE. 



But chiefly Thou 
Whom soft-eyed pity once led down from heaven 
To bleed for man, to teach him how to live, 
And 0, still harder lesson, how to die, 
Disdain not thou, to smooth the restless bed 
Of sickness and of pain. 

Lest some should doubt the foregoing or think we mis- 
take and that poor woman's wail of nature's agony would 
be heard, we insert some facts, which like all others in 
this work are proven. 

A poor slave woman of about twenty-five years, went 
to her Master and tremblingly told him she was unable 
to work in the field. He exclaimed, " it was all laziness, 
and he would cure her." In vain, now, she plead to go 
to work. She had committed the awful crime of tellino; 
of her illness, and must suffer the penalty. A large hole 
was dug, she was made to stand in it, to be buried alive, 
as she supposed. The heavy sand was filled in around 
her up to the shoulder-blades, and she left in the broiling 
sun, in intense agony. 

" Did they pack the earth around you ?" said the excel- 
lent Superintendent. 

" ISTo, Massah, it was no need. It was so heavy I to't I 
die ebery one minute." 

But not to dwell upon further minutiae too horrible for 
record here, she was left there six hours, suffered awfully 

99 



100 SLAVERY IN SOUTH CAEOLIXA AND THE EX-SLAYES. 

for days, and then gave birth to a dead infant, her consti- 
tution, and spirits, broken forever. Her mistress, the 
severer of the two, was the daughter of a governor of 
South Carolina. Another instance, proving that these 
poor women have usually no hope, but awful danger in 
appealing to Massah, must suffice. A very young girl 
in the same situation, ventured to say to the overseer, 
" that it was impossible for her to work." She seemed to 
have little power to move, as if paralyzed. He instantly 
caught her, swearing, and thrust first her arms, then her 
head too, into a barrel, then he commenced beating her. 
"She soon was silent, begged no more, and he beat her 
until her poor body laid against the barrel like a piece of 
meat." She was then taken by her poor fellow-sufferers 
into a hut. It was evident she could not live any time, 
and her poor mother, a favorite, and very valuable, slave 
at the town estate, was slily sent for. She implored her 
Mistress to let her go, especially as it was Sabbath. Her 
Mistress refused, was inexorable when entreated. The 
poor mother fell upon her knees, and with tears and 
blessings, and prayers, begged " only to see the last of 
her poor daughter." She does not seem to have even 
implied a censure upon her Mistress for keeping such an 
overseer, as it was on her plantation it occurred. Her 
Mistress, noted for charity and piety, refused her, posi- 
tively, sharply, and very possibly partook the holy sacra- 
ment that afternoon. 

The poor slave mother went about her toil, not seeing 
her poor daughter, and, as we understood, though we 
cannot assert that, without attending her funeral. She 
worked on, and wept on, until in a few weeks she died of 
grief. Our informants said that "because the same over- 
seer had killed two of her children, before, and she didn't 
die, so, her Missus thought she wouldn't this time, but 



DEATH FEOJI GEIEF — HISTEESS OVERSEEE. 101 

she saw the others before they died." It seems always 
to be a great surprise to these oppressors, when their 
slaves die, and always unexpected, For they live through 
so much that they seem to expect they will live through 
any, and everything. Doubtless this Mistress felt badly, 
especially as she lost three, or the same, in the operation. 
Probably her " charities" suffered a little also. 

But, nothing could be done with this overseer, he was 
such a favorite with his Master, brought in such good 
returns from his plantations, and the losses by deaths 
were only sworn over. He must not be spared and only 
sworn at awhile, threatened, and for these murders, he 
goes on irresponsible to any earthly power. For, if a 
slave is killed, how easy for him to swear that that slave 
resisted him, then, by the laws of South Carolina, he is 
exculpated. But even what poor laws they have are not 
enforced of late. 

Many other instances might be cited as, of poor women 
in the same situation being tied, or drawn up by the 
hands, whipt most cruelly, and subjected to many other 
agonies for the same offence — not being able to work — • 
told us by credible "White witnesses as well as equally 
truthful Colored ones. 

Of course, the suffering and weakness consequent were 
awful, as every one at all acquainted with the human 
system must know. These sufferings lasted for a week 
at times. But that children were also often born in the 
field, was true, and more or less common. A dear pious 
"Aunty" pointed out to us a fine little Colored girl, say- 
ing, " L born in de fiel', brought home wid mo/ler 

on de cart. Didn't die — de Lord good to 'em." But all 
who know the commonest truths respecting slavery know 
that this is sometimes the case. 

That such waste of life should be suffered is amazing, 



102 SLAVERY IN SOUTH CAROLINA AND THE EX-SLAVES. 

but not more so, than most facts connected with slavery. 
Of course, if complaints were heard or indulged, indolent 
ones would take advantage, and who could judge who 
was and who was not able ? The evil is inherently in the 
sin of compelling unpaid labor, and can never be sepa- 
rated from slavery, so that, if that is right, all its neces- 
sities are. 






CHAPTER XXL 

RESULTS TO POOE WOMAN. 

Through suffering and sorrow thou hast past 
To show us what a woman true may be. 

In consequence of what is hinted at in the last two 
chapters, where are the poor women of the field hands — 
where ? Under the sweet clods of the valley ! The ago- 
nies undergone resulted in their death. Scarcely one in 
ten reach the age of fifty. This, many close observers 
have reported as a remarkable fact, others are doubtful 
of the number. 

You see some old women, usually one, two, or three 
jipon a plantation. But generally their work has not 
been in the field, or they came from Africa, and have 
better constitutions, have no children, or there is some 
peculiarity in their case. But you ask them, or use your 
judgment, and see how many young women, in their 
time have died ; and in those living, internal weaknesses 
are almost universal. Another cause of these weaknesses 
is, that when sick they are not permitted to lie down, lest 
they " get lazy," the one unpardonable crime with the 
laziest people on earth. This is an incredible number, but 
in a mere economic view, how characteristic of slavery ! 

But though the end of these poor women is awful mur- 
der upon the part of oppressors, how sweet is the thought, 
that they went so early home, to be 

" Forever with the Lord." 
And how deeply beautifully is the precious image of Jesus 

103 






104 SLAVERY IN SOUTH "CAROLINA AND THE EX-SLAVES. 

blended with the marks of death upon many that are left. 
Their dear illuminated countenances are engraved upon 
our heart, among its choicest images. Oh, how much of 
Christ was there in them ! how cmiet were they ! past all 
eagerness, past all regrets. Still in God, and looking 
down to see what you are doing with their fetters, or 
rather the fetters upon their poor body, almost as an 
angel might be supposed to do, leaving the impression 
that great eternity is almost here, and that it is of far more 
moment to us how we use them than it is to them. 

How beautifully this moss hangs from these live-oaks, 
over the graves of these poor people ! "Well does a "New 
York lady observe, " It is far more beautiful than anything 
in Greenwood." It is of ash color, hanging in beautiful 
fringe from every tree, and to within a yard of the 
ground ; with a soft rustling moan, both waved and 
breathed, a kind of sweet audible silence. Beneath, are the 
graves of these oppressed ones, folded in the cool, pure 
embrace of mother earth, where thev hear no more the 
voice of the oppressor. They have gone up to join the fel- 
lowship of all the noble pure spirits of martyrs! of Colored 
women who have given up life rather than chastity, of 
whom we and you have read and heard, and thousands 
of others, of whom no record exists, below that of the 
recording angel's, but which shall challenge the admira- 
tion of the holy, when every man's work shall be mani- 
fested of what sort it is. 



CHAPTER XXII. 

WOMAN AND CIVILIZATION". 

And down the happy future runs a flood 

Of prophesying light ; 
It shows an earth no longer stained with blood ; 
Blossom and fruit, where now we see the bud 

Of brotherhood and right. Lowel. 

There is not a spot upon the globe, where woman toils 
equally with man in the field, and they live in a civilized 
manner. It is impossible, utterly so. Even in brisk 
New England, with all her excellent domestic manage- 
ment, it requires the aid in care, if not in labor, of mostly 
the whole female part of the population, to live in a civi- 
lized and refined manner, and. most housekeepers every- 
where, have extra help. This being so, with all the 
conveniences, and excellent domestic training, tact and 
skill of the highest civilization, what must it be to those 
of little experience, and skill, and no teaching ? 

No. If our government cannot afford to let women 
confine their labors mostly to the house and garden, 
at least, it condemns four millions, still to live in a half- 
civilized manner; it condemns them whether it frees them 
or not, since it has the power to free them ; it condemns 
them to claw out their hominy from the pots with their 
poor fingers or with clam-shells, as is often done now, 
and other equally uncivilized practices. 

But some superintendents say " they finish their tasks 
by noon or even betore, as they begin by light." Yery 

5* 105 



106 SLAVERY IN SOUTH CAROLINA AND THE EX-SLAVES. 

well. If they do this, and the women work equally with 
the men, we are not the ones to insist that they shall 
thereafter do the work that should have occupied the en- 
tire day. 

No, they must live like beasts, all eating, dressing, 
living as they can, until the women are permitted to study 
household good, to get three regular meals, aud to make, 
wash, and iron, so that all can change their garments 
frequently. 

It is said, " many are willing to look miserably all the 
week, if they can only make a show on Sunday." But, 
what credit do they not deserve, for making a neat ap- 
pearance on Sunday, when laboring equally with men in 
the field all the week ? We often say to the superin- 
tendents, " We would make a difference, were it but of 
half an hour, between men's and women's toil, so as 
never, never! to have to feel or acknowledge, in after 
, years, that we had made no distinction between them in 
field work." But " present expediency," as usual, is against 
it, for present expediency never does, and never did, any- 
thing that will bear the light and the gaze of half a cen- 
tury thereafter. 

But it is the opinion of scores of good judges, upon 
the spot, with whom we have conversed that not in 
the whole world, is there to be found a people that show 
so much ambition and real effort for decent civilized life, 
as these same poor Negresses. 

When, in accordance with teachings, and the necessary 
tools being provided — not a broom, for instance, being 
found on whole plantations — the cabin is whitewashed, 
out, and inside, cleaned thoroughly, and chaos reduced 
to system, there seems to be no bounds to their appre- 
ciation and enjoyment of it, and they keep it so to a re- 
markable degree for persons so raised. All accord to 



ENJOYMENT OF SYSTEM AND NEATNESS — TASTE DEESS. 107 

them a taste far, far, beyond their ability, in every de- 
partment of civilized life, and excess in taste for dress, 
and good style of living. 

Then, if Government makes them free, and gives them 
the chance, all they need and ask, though not all they 
deserve, and have earned, we shall soon have the highest 
civilization among them. If Government does not, she 
may have but very, very short opportunity together 
with the power. God hath arisen and is contending for 
the Colored man. Happy will it be, if our nation have 

THE POWER TO SEE IT, and to side WITH HIM FOR THEM. 



CHAPTER XXIII. 

CRUSHED INTELLECTS. 

But, bitterest of the ills beneath 
Whose load man totters down to death, 
Is that which plucks the regal crown 
Of freedom from his forehead down, 
And snatches from his powerless hand 
The sceptred sign of self-commancl. 

Whittier. 

One sees many poor Colored people who seem to have 
been crushed, in mind, by some great blow. It is per- 
fectly clear they are not what they once were. Some of 
them seem to contemplate, in dull, heavy, terror, some 
past event, the recollection of which fastens their gaze, 
and stupefies them. One such, we saw yesterday ; — a 
mother ; — an aged Colored woman, with very fine men- 
tal physique, but now seeming to dwell in almost stupid 
abstraction. 

Her husband, a very dignified, grey-bearded man, was 
speaking of slavery in answer to our queries. Her lips 
kept moving, lier dull eyes almost closed, but, as if peer- 
ing at something in the distance. As if suddenly noticing 
the moving of her lips, I said — " What did you say ?" 

" Two hundred lash ! two hundred lash !" was her 
only reply, entirely respectful, but with mental gaze 
fixed on the dim past, or upon some object contained in 
it. Her husband, with a look of tenderness, pain, and of 
consideration for her, immediately began as follows : 

" Ole Massah charged ou 1 son wid stealin' corn. He 

103 



TWO HUNDRED LASII PARENTIS HEROISM. 109 

was innocent — but was so frightened clat lie ran 'way to 
de Main. Word com' to Massab, 't 'e was dere. Massah 
send me, 'cause be say be come wid bis fader, an' den 
be won't punish. I go. Dey tell him dere, ' not to 
come.' Beg bim ; tell him, ' Massab whip ; don't go.' 
I say, ' I tink's Massab won't.' He Come wid me ; he 
wou'dn't come wid no oder, but I brings bim. I say, 
' Massab, for my sake, don't whip him, 'cause I, his own 
fader, bring bim.' Massab tie bim " 

" Tie bis bands an' feet, so," interrupted the poor 
mother, crossing her toil-worn and deformed hands, 
and shaking her head. " Onspeakable !" " onspeakable!" 
was all she could say. 

" He gib him two hundred lash," said the father, with 
that inured-to-endurance voice and manner, which is so 
melting. " Oh, how awful I felt, 'cause I, his fader, 
brought him ! but had to smile when Massah come 
roun' an' say — ' You did right, Massab.' Must do it, or 
git just de same, Missus. Must say it for self-preserva- 
tion ; but God know de heart ; he know cou'dn't help it, 
cou'dn't, no way." 

" I'se walkin' up an' down dis yard, tendin' baby, 
'cause I'se nurse," said the poor mother ; " cou'dn't tell 
whedder on my head, or on my heels " [with a shudder], 
" to see my poor boy whip so awful." 

Can you bring this home to your own case, .parents ? 
Can you see that boy of yours thus tied, and raised from 
earth, and mangled, and you obliged to laugh and say, 
" he deserved it ; all right ?" 

One of many instances of heroism, was in the case of 
a very tall and strongly built Colored man, with an ex- 
ceedingly fine, manly expression of countenance, but 
upon which, as upon most, suffering, tenderness, and en- 
durance, were most strongly impressed. Said he : 



110 SLAVERY IN SOUTH CAROLINA AND THE EX-SLAVES. 

" I was driver many years ; cou'dn't help it — had to 
do it. When task not done, dey all get whip'd. I, too, 
for um ; I'se had mo'n one thousand lashes in my time. 
Had to whip chil'n, too, so awful ; dey break plate, or 
fall 'sleep, waiting for do something, or for Massah, gi' 
'um twenty, thirty, lashes. Massah say — ' you go barn, 
whip dis Nigger ;' I go ; know de poo' chil'n hain't done 
not'ing ; don't deserbe it. 

" So sorry for poor little chil'n, 'cause can't get away 
from Massah, no how! no way! neber ! So I. tells 
'um : ' scream while I whip somet'ing else, wid all my 
might.' Massah hear ; t'inks it's dem. People knows 
'twasn't. If dey tell, and Massah hears it, I gets fifty or 
mo' lash, awful ! But mus' try to save chil'n, eben if I 
did suffer so." 

"What a noble examine of suffering to save others ! 
And this is found in many Colored drivers. But not 
only do many show the devastating effect of awful 
shocks and hopeless agonies, but many also of blows 
upon the head. It is the universal testimony, that in- 
fants, so soon as they can handle a stick or the poker 
are at perfect liberty to strike their poor mammy over 
the head with it. " And," said one, " I neber dare make 
a sound as if it hurt me ; if I did, Missus would seize it, 
and lay me ober with all her might." Incredible ! say 
you. So is almost everything, connected with this, as 
other, awful sins. 

But such severe and protracted toil must have a dead- 
ening effect upon the brain, both from that part being 
an expansion of the spinal column, and from many 
other reasons. In short, nothing, short of the resurrec- 
tion, will obliterate the dire marks of their servitude, and 
abuse. 



CHAPTER XXIV. 

THE INNER LIFE OF THE BIOUS. 

On piety humanity is built ; 

And on humanity much happiness ; 

And yet still more, on piety itself, 

A soul in commerce with her God in heaven 

Feels not the tumults and the shocks of life, 

The whirls of passion, and the strokes of heart. 

Young. 

How rich, how unfathomable, how glorified is the inner 
life of these poor people ! How they seem to look out 
from that inner, spiritual, hidden existence, or nature, 
upon you ! All is for the time transformed, or rather seen 
in the light of eternity. 

They are your judges, your tests of sacrifice for God, 
for principle. They are yet field-hands — those women. 
"What of that ! The seal of death is upon -their faces ; 
yea, the seal of God, the sweet seal . of his ownership, 
his claiming, his coming. The power of man over 
them, will soon, and forever cease. 

Toil on, ye ransomed, ye sanctified ones ! Lift those 

awful burdens a little longer ; to-morrow ye shall be with 

God, to go no more out forever ! What though every 

lift seems to be the last, and " makes your heart all sink 

down," and " all fall within you." It is but a moment ! 

Jesus is at the door ! Yea, more, is he not dwelling in 

you, and with you ? He has come to receive you unto 

himself, that where he is, there you may be also. And he 

111 



112 SLAVERY IN SOUTH CAROLINA AND THE EX-SLAVES. 

walks with you through the last, long, toilsome, life- 
crushing days, or years. His holy image is upon your 
brow, more visible than the hated color of your skin. 

But while I thus" speak, your patience breaks my 
heart ! O ! were there more earthliness in you, we would 
not weep so ! Did you rave, or even complain, we could 
bear it better. But your meek giving up of everything 
in life, yea, of life itself, so quietly, so patiently, so grate- 
fully, breaks our heart. 

But do ye not die for a noble government ? 

Is it not an honorable government ? 

"Will not your last of life's summer's work put dollars 
into the treasury ? 

Will it not buy coaches, dresses, and entertainments ? 

Is it to be expected, that so noble a government, can, 
all at once, abolish field-labor in aged women ? Remem- 
ber, it is not sex merely that this noble government con- 
siders — not woman, as woman — else you should be 
shielded. • 

No, it is not the woman, but the color of her face, the 
accidents of her birth, training, education, and the tin- 
selry thrown around her, that this noble government 
considers. 

Can you not die for such a chivalrous government ? 

Can you not toil hard in the field, five and a* half, or 
six days in the week, until you thereby learn house- 
keeping ? 

Is it not fitting that the whole nation should turn wo- 
man-drivers just for a treat, or for economy, before it 
takes a farewell glance of the blessed institution % 

Beside, the Christianity of our great cities demands it. 
They send down their noblest sons to execute it. Those 
sons may never curse the day in which they fulfilled their 
noble requisitions, and they may. 



AGED WOMEN TOIL — WEEKS WOItK IN HALF DAY. 113 

u Patience ! noble, pious ex-slave women ! the govern- 
ment is in debt !" It needs aged women to toil upon 
burning sands, and under fiery skies, to help it out ! 

" It will free you when it will cost nothing." Is not 
that magnanimous? 

Take your plate of hominy, and sit down as usual, as 
your unavoidably neglected children do, upon the floor, 
or in the ashes, a little longer. We are not the ones to 
ask you to set the table, when you have kept up with the 
strong man all day, in the field. Not we ! 

Other women under government's care, must have many 
personal servants, so you must pay for it, by doing all 
your week's work in half-a-day, and then you, and yours, 
are expected to be as clean at preaching as any one. 
Beside, "men, among your poor race, would be jealous, 
if you were not to do as much work as they do." This is 
gravely asserted by men ! men trained in the North ! and 
it will not do for this noble government too suddenly, to 
lead men to treat their wives with tenderness, " giving 
honor to them as to the weaker vessel," as God distinctly 
commands. 

How preposterous, that women especially at, and past 
middle life, are not to do the same work as men ! Some 
say they work faster. 

Yes, indeed ! So they do ; and so does a watch for a 
time, after the mainspring is broken. 

O bruised and crushed ones ! We have felt as if we 
desired to go out and take the hoe, and sink in the fur- 
row, and die with you. But no ! we will live and lay our 
daily tribute of poor woman's tears, upon your memory! 
and thus help the good to keep it green, so that you shall 
be inhabitants of two worlds at once. 

But, at last, where falls this censure" ? Hath not the 
present government gone to the utmost limit of its power ? 



114 SLAVERY IN SOUTH CAROLINA AND THE EX-SLAVES. 

Have not the noble Saxton, Dupont, Sherman, Benham, 
Stevens, Hunter, the last preeminently ? Do not many 
censure our noble Secretaries of the Treasury and of War, 
that they have exceeded their power And has not Mr. 
Pierce, the government agent here, gone to the utmost of 
his instructions ? Has not Mr. French ? Do not our 
noble Superintendents do the same ? Where ? then, 
where ? falls this censure ? Upon the people ? They 
are responsible — whose voices should thunder through the 
ballot-boxes, and echo, and reecho, through the land, 
"We will have no woman-driving under our govern- 
ment !" They are the guilty, who should have elected 
the most anti-slavery men to the high offices of trust, at 
the expense, if need be, of every other or opposite con- 
sideration. 



CHAPTER XXV. 

THE GENIUS OF SLAVEDOM. 

Ah me ! from real happiness we stray 

By vice bewildered ; vice which always leads, 

However fair at first, to wilds of woe. 

Thomson. 

Treachery seems written upon everything in this land 
of deceit, slavery, and cruelty. It is in the soft air, in 
miasma ; in the cool, grateful evening breezes, in chills ; 
in the clear water, in warm nausea; in the smooth 
looking roads, in deep sand ; in every hedge, in unseen 
prickles ; and even in the dull oyster, in poison ; to the 
]STortherner, at this time, at least. Slavery is here never 
put of your mind, we have the testimony of many to 
corroborate our own. It seems here to bind you in a 
spell, as an invisible power. Everything looks to have 
been stolen. You see a fine house, carriage, plantation. 
Your mind cannot dwell upon its beauty, but the 
thought that chokes, smothers, all others, is of the 
unrequited toil, the heart-breaking, it has cost. Even 
the innocent flowers blush, or deepen in color, that they 
have been planted in anguish, by the spoiled. But worse 
still, you come to feel that all " in that immense, micro- 
scopic realm of human life, down below human law," is 
tainted with injustice, extortion, theft. You even come 
to have a vague, wierd, confused, and most uncomfort- 
able feeling, that you yourself have been thieving, that 
your companions have, that the man, woman or child, 

115 



11G SLAVERY IN SOUTH CAROLINA AND THE EX-SLAVES. 

you meet has been thieving ; that what is in their 
bundle, or basket, lias been stolen. Your distinctions of 
mine, and thine, become confused. You ask yourself, 
does this article actually belong to me ? Let's see where? 
when % how much ? did I pay for it ? Yes, it is mine. 
That fact is settled. But it has no more effect upon the 
muddled state of your mind, or clearing it, than dropping 
a pebble into a muddy stream. You cannot see a line 
equipage without wondering how it was obtained, and 
you involuntarily ask, " Is it, or that book or horse or 
furniture, any more his, than mine ?" In short, confusion 
invades everything, — you now have charity for Floyd, 
and his compeers, for you see, that under the long influ- 
ence of slavery, they actually mistook thine, for mine. 
For you argue, if all this damage is done a mind, which 
hates slavery, what must it be to one who hugs, yea, 
deifies it ? You strangely feel, that nothing is in the 
hands of its true owner, even if there is such a person, 
that nobody rightly owns anything, that nothing is 
valuable or worth much care. You are tempted to say, 
"the world is out of joint. Let the unjointed thing go 
on, while I catch what I need." You feel "nobody is 
honest and nothing has any permanence — nobody can be 
trusted if tempted enough." In short, the spirit of 
slavery strangely invades, blights, glooms, darkens 
everything. But all description fails of the actual reality, 
of this state. But, for an instance, to illustrate it, feebly. 
Your shoes are tight for so much walking, you go to see 
if there are looser in the Mission boxes. Yes. You j 
have a new and strange feeling, that if you set a price 
upon them, you shall steal, you go, and get the " com- 
mittee" to price them, grumbling all the time at your- 
self, that you have come to dare not to trust yourself. 
The committee come, and show the same spirit, that 



TTITEVISII SriRIT — DISnOXKSTY RECOGNIZED — ARABS. 117 

haunts yon, by putting them too low. You think that is 
too low, and covetously say, "I should have priced 
them higher," pay for them, and go up stairs, saying to 
yourself, " I shall wear them out in the service of the 
mission, I get no pay, I might v as well have taken them 
without all this fuss." You are indignant at this thievish 
spirit, and cry down ! down ! but it will not down, or at 
least remain so, in this atmosphere, charged with theft, 
and you cry to the Strong, for strength. Under what an 
odious, ruinous influence is this to bring up children, 
lea vino- out of view, other most destructive tendencies. 
All this, and much more, which cannot be coined into 
words, is the universal and legitimate effect of contact 
with slavery. "Wonder ceases, that travellers under all 
these influences, lost all power to oppose it. God hath so 
constituted the human soul, that it cannot be opposites at 
the same time ; as dishonest, and unjust in one depart- 
ment of the soul, or even mind, and honest, and just, in 
another, however it may flatter itself to the contrary. 
The fact, that dishonesty was recognized and most 
strenuously guarded against, here, is most evident, 
proven by the barrels, and barrels, of old writings, scat- 
tered about deserted dwellings. Not a dollar's worth, it 
seems, could be bought or sold, but the most strong, and 
correct, legal writings were exchanged. Everything in 
business, was tied, doubled, and twisted, and locked. 
The writers seem to have been friends, by the letters, but 
as shy and suspicious of each other, as Arabs. Every- 
thing you see, here, shows that it was the opinion of these 
Southerners, that honesty does not exist in man. 



VED 



r %x 




XXVI. 

AVARICE OR POVERTY. 

lie turns with anxions heart and crippled hands, 
His bonds of debt, and mortgages of lands, 
Or views his coffers with suspicious eyes, 
Unlocks his gold, and counts it till he dies. 

Dr. Johnson. 

The parsimoniousness, so often asserted in these pages, 
would seem impossible at first, in gentlemen. But this 
disappears, as one sees the actual appearances hero. 
Poverty, Poverty, Poverty, is written upon everything, 
and stalks boldly abroad. All government stores cannot 
conceal it. It is proven that in the Barbadoes, slave 
labor costs seven per cent, more than free. This is pro- 
ven also in the whole history of Jamaica, where one-third 
of those rich plantations were deserted from utter poverty, 
and where a majority of the debts that had eaten up all 
owners, were of one hundred and more years' standing. 
Slaveholders are not able to be liberal, however it may 
seem at a glance, or whatever accounts may show. They 
were determined slavery should be profitable, and made 
the most desperate efforts to make it so, but in vain, gene- 
rally. The testimony of all appearances, account-books, 
persons — show that. Many ex-slaves assert that they did 
not get over six quarts for a peck of corn per week, and 
that without salt, or anything with it at all, in most cases. 

" The measure did not hoi' a peck, Missus," said one, 
" it was gone by middle of week." 

118 



ITEMS FROM ACCOUNT-BOOKS — SLATES — MTSEES. 119 

" What did you do then ?" 

" Wo have to get corn by selling chickens and such." 

" What did yon get for a chicken ?" 

" Sixpence for some, for some less, for some mo'." 

" Then how much did yon have to pay for corn ?" 

" Dolla' a bushel, Missus." 

But lest some are not convinced, we give an exact copy 
of items from an account-book in possession of an officer, 
a mere sample of the whole : 

" Set one turkey-hen on 20 eggs. 
" three ' common hens,' 36 eggs. 

Peg sick one day, Moll one — two, gave them all 21 
grains of calomel. 

1 needle has been furnished to each grown person. 

8 buttons to each woman. 

12 " to each man. 

1 needle to every two children." 

But if not poor, they were incorrigible misers, for eve- 
rything about the " quarters" shows the most economic 
planning and long usage. 

The servants too, who attended. these tyrants upon Sab- 
bath were sometimes the same who toiled hard all the week 
upon plantations, during every moment of light. As an 
instance of this, a gentleman well informed, and very 
moderately anti-slavery, at least, said : " The lady who 
occupied this house, had a plantation ten miles in the 
country. Her servant, after attending to her, and other 
labors, in the morning, had to walk into Beaufort ten 
miles, arrive before her mistress' carriage, to dress her, 
then to follow her to church, carrying her book, then pre- 
cede her home, wait upon her at table, undress her, and 
walk back to the plantation, and be ready to attend upon 
her there, making twenty miles walk beside all other 
labors." This was, we presume, one of her good days, 



120 SLAVERY IN SOUTH CAROLINA AND THE EX-SLAVES. 

in which Missus, was peculiarly kind. Little did that 
woman think, she should end her illustrious career in a 
runaway, and that forced too, (for the inhabitants of 
Beaufort had bound themselves by dark oaths, taken in 
the Sanctuary and on the holy Sabbath — all to go when 
the federal army came, if any fled, and that he who broke 
this oath, should be shot in his tracks.) 

But slavery, like all other sin, is ever beguiling by fair 
promises. The young clerk can prove, that by sacrificing 
conscience he can become wealthy, or the thief, that such 
and such prizes will make him forever rich. But though 
that thief, clerk, slaveholder, never, or seldom dies rich, 
still the mirage glitters as before. Still, many'think the 
assertion, that slavery is profitable, can be proven by fig- 
ures which cannot lie. But the true fact is, slaveholders 
are poor, men would not live so, if they were not. No 
Northern farmers live so ; but their barren acres are 
crowned by a home, while not a home have we yet seen 
on all these rich lands. There are such, we are told, but 
we have seen but one house on twenty-five plantations, 
where we could think of remaining one night, unless 
duty, or necessity, absolutely required it, and then we 
should prefer a tent, were it possible, so old, ill-scented, 
and filthy are these houses. 

" Do you say you lost all your children ?" said we to 
a pious and very respectable-looking woman. 

" Yes, all gone." 

" Of what disease ?" 

" No disease, Missus. "Work so hard in house, lib 
so poor on peck ob corn, as Massah called it, but won't 
a peck." 

" Why I should think you, a cook, would get more." 

" No mo' ! Massah, or Missus, dey measures or weighs 
ebery bit you git, den you must have jest so many bus- 






CONTEMPTIBLE STOOPING DESPERATE ECONOMY. 121 

cuit and everyting." This was said by tlie many pious, 
reliable servants of a minister, and, in one case, con- 
firmed by a local preacher, and is further confirmed, like 
all the facts stated in this work, by general corroborative 
testimony. " Den he whip us so, if break any ting or fail 
in work. Take away on' 'lowance ob corn. But must 
smile to visitors, say Massab so good, so kind ; say don't 
want anyting for eat, when you starving most, else get 
cut up so." " But driver whip field hands ; Massah — the 
minister— on'y whip we house women and men." " Mas- 
sab 'ligious ? JSTo more 'ligion dan dat grass." " Oh, he ! 
too bad, work too tight, too much ; but we pray he will 
be saved, don't want no hurt come to him, on'y pray ! 
pray he neber come 'gin ! and Jesus hear prayer, pro- 
mised to, won't let him come 'gin." 

These instances of measuring and weighing are from 
scores of evidences, of most desperate efforts, at economy, 
coming to light in every possible way. 

Now what Northern farmer — even where it is said 
" they have to sharpen sheeps' noses to enable them to 
get the grass, among the rocks" — would stoop to measure 
flour, and count the biscuit, as this Southern pompous 
minister-planter, and others did. But we forbear. 

We are convinced that their financial embarrassments, 
are one grand reason why masters so generally hate their 
slaves, and they hate him equally in return. But should 
you walk with him among them, you would see the low 
courtesy, the hearty smile, or that they would even kiss 
his hand, if they dare. But all this is to escape torture. 
But the Master is determined to adhere to slavery, and to 
make it pay, and every step, and year, is deeper, in the 
mire of debt in most cases. 

This is evident from account-books, from all the ideas, 
and habits, of the Negroes, and in all habits and appear- 

G 



122 BLAVEKT IN SOUTH CAROLINA AND THE EX-SLAVES. 

ances upon plantations. We, with others, thought at first 
this poverty-stricken appearance might be from avarice. 
But avarice could not be so universal. It must be 
poverty. Beside, this country is not richer than the 
Indies, which, under the influence of the same system, 
were fast becoming depopulated of whites, from absentee- 
ism, in consequence of debt. Still, there are said to be 
within ten miles of Beaufort some three, four, or five 
splendid residences, with appropriate surroundings, and 
the wonder never ceases to be told. Just imagine a per- 
son, asserting that " there actually is a fine house on an 
island near New York, Boston, or any Northern city, or 
village," and continue to assert it, as if it were almost 
incredible, and you have some idea of the difference be- 
tween liberty and slavery. 

If one is not convinced that tbe actual motive for this 
war, is, to cover up debts, and failures, in many cases, 
he need only go South to be fully convinced of it. In 
fact, they were bankrupt, owing millions in New York 
city alone. The immense interest on the money invested 
in slaves, and the many deaths of slaves, and especially 
infants, the vices, extravagance, pride and indolence, 
attending slavery must keep them poor, inevitably. 



CHAPTER XXYII. 

EMBITTERED SPRINGS. 

The heart laid waste by grief or scorn, 

Which only knoweth 

Its own deep woe, 
Is the only desert. There no spring is born 
Amid the sands ; in that no shady palm-tree groweth. 

Freiligrath. 

The wrongs heaped upon this helpless race, had seemed 
enough, had not their religion been made an instrument 
of torture. Had this one spring been left unfouled, they 
had not quite fainted in the dark, stifling desert of 
slavery. " I am exceedingly disappointed," said an emi- 
nent D.D. here, " in what I have considered the allevia- 
tion of slaverv." 

" TVhat strikes you as most remarkable ?" 

"The fact that to them religion was so dispoiled of its 
true character, and made such an instrument of oppres- 
sion and bitterness," said he. 

Then the possession of manhood — what a dignity, joy ; 
but with the slaves, more especially those gifted by 
nature — and many such there are — the robbery of this 
is the greatest bitterness. For a man or woman to know 
that they are imbruted, as far as Massah can do so — how 
agonizing ! To have an endless, inward whispering of 
taste, manhood, conscience, respecting what they ought 
to be, contrasted with what they are, must, especially to 
the ever self-conscious Negro — be most awful. 

128 



12-i SLAVERY IN" SOUTH CAROLINA AND THE EX-SLAVE3. 

Tlie patronizing air, that many put on, or the fact that 
not a word or action of his, but must be weighed against 
his color and condition. Added to this, is the fact that 
most persons consider him inferior, and remarks of his, 
to which a philosopher would listen with interest, are 
considered weak and contemptible. But the bitterest 
clip, some think, is the knowledge that his Master has 
unlimited control over him — his body — his wife and his 
children ; and is subject to gusts of furious passion, and 
is yet amenable to no earthly power. All this keeps up 
an intolerable but unavailing struggle in his soul against 
such despotic tyranny. Eat others think the bitterness 
of their full cup, is the total contempt with which Massah 
regards them. And as impressions are received by the 
mind in some states, with awful vividness, and ever after 
stand out in colors of more than real life, so is the dis- 
gust with which Massah, and in most cases his family also, 
regarded them, so impressed upon them, that at the least 
allusion to it, the. whole face is distorted with shame and 
agony, — but not a particle of anger. This in most cases 
has been most touching, melting, to all hearts. 

" Massah touch a Nigger ! Ah ! you do' know nothing 
'bout Massah. He no mo' touch a black Nigger than a 
black snake !" said an aged saint of God. " He say so, 
he hate us so awful ! You go work fo' light, work good, 
get task all done, come home, dark, so you hardly see way 
out of fielV " You come near Massah, you want to speak 
to him 'bout some things, he kick at you and scream, 
< You mean, good-for-nothing, black Nigger ! Will you 
speak to me? Go 'way, you old black cuss!' Oh, 
Missus, he never touch Nigger but with whip, not to 
save you life. ' Lazy Wretches,' he says, < I send you 

to Cuba.' " 

Most of them, too, not only know that they were hated, 



MASSAh's HATRED — SEPARATION OF FAMILIES. 125 

but loathed, and never seen but with disgust, or heard, 
or thought of but with anger and malice. 

" Massah can't love no Nigger ! Come from Beaufort ! 
Neber glad to see you, he boot you t" 

This, added to the toils and sorrows, has seemed in 
some cases, the bitterest draught in the cup of slavery. 
But more who have conversed much with them, think, 
the separation of families the sorest grief; and we know, 
from universal testimony these cost many lives. 

But every power or faculty, of body or mind, becomes 
an avenue or spring of sorrow. Every family tie, every 
affection, passion, power, cf the soul, is a fount of agony 
and bitterness, and shall not the Most High eegaed 
it? 



CHAPTER XXVILT. 

THE APOSTLES OF SLAVEEY. 

Thus said the Lord unto me, The prophets prophesy lies in my 
name : I sent them not, neither spake unto them : they prophesy 
unto you a false vision, and divination, and a thing of naught, 
and a deceit of their heart. 

One said, speaking of preachers, "Some good, but 
couldn't preach as dey want to, must preach as Massah 
'lowed; no furder ; no open Gospel! no furcler. If dey 
did, hab to alter preaching next time. Dey come 'gin, 
preach right oder way. Preach must be humble — obey 
Massah, do ebryting for Massah, and noting for self, else 
de Lord would not save your poor soul." But we give 
the testimony of Dr. Nelson, a slaveholder, the author of 
an able work on infidelity : 

" But nothing is equal to their harping upon the ' reli- 
gious privileges and instruction' of the slaves of the 
South. And nothing could be so false and injurious (to 
the cause of freedom and religion) as the impression they 
give on that subject. I say what I know when I speak 
in relation to this matter. I have been intimately ac- 
quainted with the religious opportunities of slaves — in 
the constant habit of hearing thk sermons which are 
preached to them. And I solemnly affirm, that, during 
the forty years of my residence and observation in this 
line, I never heard a single one of these sermons but 
what was taken up with the obligations and duties of 
slaves to their Masters. Indeed, I never heard a ser- 

126 



PREACHING WOBSE THAN NONE — MR. NELSON'S VIEW. 127 

mon to slaves but what made cbediknce to Masters by 
the slaves the fundamental and supreme law of religion. 
Any candid and intelligent man can decide whether 
such preaching is not, as to religious purposes, worse 

THAN NONE AT ALL. 

" Again : it is wonderful how the credulity of the North 
is subjected to imposition in regard to the kind treatment 
of slaves. For myself, I can clear up the apparent con- 
tradictions found in writers who have resided at or visited 
the South. The ' majority of slaveholders,' say some, 
' treat their slaves with kindness.' Now, this may be 
true in certain States and districts, setting aside all ques- 
tions of treatment, except such as refer to the body. And 
yet, while the ' majority of slaveholders' in a certain sec- 
tion may be kind, the majority of slaves in that section 
will be treated with cruelty. This is the truth in many 
such cases, that while there may be thirty men who may 
have but one slave apiece, and that a house-servant, a 
single man in their neighborhood may have a hundred 
slaves — all field-hands, half-fed, worked excessively, and 
whipped most cruelly. This is what I have often seen." 

A most reliable, intelligent, fine-looking Colored "mem- 
ber" said, " Our preacher curse. He curse God for doin' 
what he doin' in the war. We bless him all time ! But 
preacher will learn God yet ! You know 'e hymn says, 

' When my faith is sharply tried, 
I find myself a learner yet.' " 

One who had evidently drank deep into the cup of sor- 
row, said : " We couldn't tell, no preacher, neber, how 
we suffer all dese long years. He know'd nothin' 'bout 
we." What a pastor ! ! 

The owner of that mansion upon which we now look, 



128 SLAVERY IN SOUTH CAROLINA AND THE EX-SLAVES. 

so sure as he drank freely, which was often, went out 
upon his plantation, and had a chair brought into the 
yard, and regaled himself with seeing his slaves whipped, 
doubtless the next minister that sat at his splendid 
table simpered and smiled, and cried, " Cursed be Ca- 
naan," licking his hand, while he pierced his soul. 

But many not only taught by word, but deed. One 
such, used to preach pathetically, here, while he had a poor 
slave chained in his cellar for grieving because he had 
sold his wife. All keeping their people on a peck of 
corn, measuring and weighing out materials for dinner 
before going to church, and counting and measuring 
afterwards, so that the poor cook left the kitchen faint? 
as many told us, and " went to her hut to cook a little 
corn for self." 

"Why I could not tell within one biscuit," said we. 

" Dey could tell, Missus. Dey used to it ; you couldn't 
take bit, but dey know it, and whip you." And yet the 
pompousness and irritablity of those ministers could awe 
whole Assemblies, Conventions, Conferences, and cheat 
them out of common sense, to say nothing of religion. 
But we give a few facts : 

" ' I know a minister, a man of talents, and popular as a 
preacher, who took his Negro girl into a barn to whip 
her, and she was brought out a corpse? This is the testi- 
mony of Mr. Geo. A. Avery, of Rochester, ISTew York, 
who states further that the friends of the minister seemed 
to think it of ' little importance to his ministerial stand- 
-//.",/.' Of course he was not indicted ! This was in Vir- 
ginia. 

" A minister in South Carolina, a native of the North, 
had a stated Sabbath appointment to preach, about eight 
miles from his residence. He was in the habit of riding 
thither in his gig or sulkey, after a very swift trotting 



A SOUTH CAROLINA MINISTER AND HIS SLAVE. 129 

horse, which lie always drove briskly. Behind him ran 
his Negro slave on foot, who was required to he at the 




place of appointment as soon as his Master, to take care 

of his horse. Sometimes he fell behind, and kept his 

Master waiting: for him a few minutes, for which he 

always received a reprimand, and was sometimes punished. 

On one occasion of this kind, after a sermon, the Master 

told the slave that he would take care to have him keep 

tip with him going home. So he tied him by the wrists, 

with a halter, to his gig behind, and drove rapidly home. 

The result was that, about two or three miles from home, 

the poor fellow's feet and legs failed him, and he was 

dragged on the ground all the rest of the way, by the 

wrists! Whether the Master knew it or not till he 

reached home, is not certain ; but on alighting and look- 

ng round, he exclaimed, ' "Well, I thought you would 

^eep up with me this time !' so saying, he coolly walked 

nto ihe house. The servants came out and took up the 

poor sufferer for dead. After a time he revived a little, 

lingered for a day or two, and died! The facts were 

known all o^rer the neighborhood, but nothing was done 

6* 



130 SLAVERY tS SOUTH CAROLINA AXD THE EX-SLATES. 

about it ! The minister continued preaching as before ; 
and another slave of his, unable to labor or walk, was 
seen laid under a shed, near the house, where he would 
have starved, but for the food thrown over the fence to 
him by some mechanics working near by, and which he 
devoured ravenously. He was sent off to the plantation, 
and soon after died. "When that minister conies up to 
our General Assemblies, Annual Conferences, or May 
Anniversaries, he can, doubtless, tell us all about the 
' innocent legal relation' of slaveowner, and how kindly 
the slaves are treated by their Masters ! We should not 
publish this narrative, which has never before appeared 
in print, had it not been told to us by an eye-witness, 
with whom we are well acquainted, and in whose state- 
ments we can implicitly confide — Mr. John "W. Hill, 
Green Point, near New York city. He saw the gig when 
it came up, with the slave dragging behind, and saw the 
minister alight and go in."* 

An instance in illustration of the standard of ministe- 
rial character is seen in a Preacher in Beaufort, who hav- 
ing sent his slaves out of hearing, into the basement, 
raved about the war and the North. His son said: 

" Father, it is of no use. We can and must see that 
the Lord is with them." 

The father jumped from his seat, and violently stamp- 
ing his feet, cried : 

" Get out of my house this instant, or I will shoot you" 
— suiting the action to the word — and the son was obliged 
to seek safety in flight. 

In short, one cannot become familiar with their history 
and course without agreeing with Parson Brownlow, in 
his awful but appropriate language, that they are, as a 

* Goodell's American Slave Code, pp. 216. 



COLORED AMBASSADORS — THEIR HUMILITY. 131 

class, ^ infernal apostates" and " Judases ;" though as 
Judas repented, perhaps he should not be slandered by 
being classed with them. 

True, there were noble exceptions, so far as personal 
character was concerned. But they went on, in fellow- 
ship with these, and so by countenancing, became par- 
takers of their evil deeds. 

COLORED AMBASSADORS. 

The real spiritual benefit of these poor Colored people, 
instrumentally, seems to have been mostly derived from 
a sort of local preachers. Colored, and mostly slaves, but 
of deep spiritual experience, sound sense, and capacity to 
state Scripture facts, narratives, and doctrines, far better 
than most, who feed upon commentaries. True, the most 
of them could not read, still, some of them line hymns 
from memory with great accuracy, and fervor, and repeat 
Scripture most appropriately, and correctly. Their teach- 
ing shows clearly that it is God in the soul, that makes 
the religious teacher. One is amazed at their correctness 
and power. They say : " God tell me 'you go teach de 
people what I tell you ; I shall prosper you ; I teach you 
in de heart.' " They open their mouth in simple faith that 
God will fill it, and are not disappointed. How dear to 
God, must be their perfect humility, perfect trust, perfect 
love. 

"Richest by far is the heart's adoration, 
Dearest to God are the prayers of the poor. 

But they are remarkably humble, and seem almost 
pained if you call them preacher, saying quickly and qui- 
etly, " No, Massah, I not preacher, I talk to 'e people, 'at 
is all ; I not preach, only try for help 'e people." But 



132 SLAVERY IN SOUTH CAROLINA AND THE EX-SLATES. 

there is in them a richness of imagination, a seeing of the 
invisible, a clear realization of eternal realities, which is 
indescribable, and powerful in effect, upon their audi- 
ences, and learning from the Bible alone, their standard 
of action, and experience is very high. But to speak of 
their conscientiousness, requires another chapter. 



CHAPTER XXIX. 

PKAYEKS OF THE EX-SLAVES. 

The prayers of the poor slaves, are proven to have had 
great value, in the minds of their Masters, in scores of 
ways. They argued, and begged, coaxed and threatened, 
broke up meetings, punished, to make them pray " fo' de 
confederates." It is proven to have been so from the fact 
that so many refer to it, as a known fact in so many inci- 
dental ways ; for instance — " Massah say, we pray for de 
war, say we shouldn't, inns' pray for de 'fed'rates. "VVe 
pray mo', pray harder. Den dey wouldn't let we hab 
meetin's, broke up de meetin's, but didn't broke our 
hearts, we pray mo' and mo', in de heart, night and day, 
and wait, and wait, for de Lord. Oh how we did pray 
for Pa Lincum ! all ou' people call him Pa Lincum. Oh 
we pray for de Lord to come, to hasten his work. Now 
he come, we save by de Lord. De Lord done it. "We 
all so happy now, all work good ; 'spect to work, used to 
it, and not'ing else. We so happy, we hear de firing at 
Hilton Head, and when we see de ships comin', we tink 
we 'mos' in heben." Such was the faith of these dear 
people, in the success of the North, that they rejoiced at 
the knowing that there was actual battle as if it were 
victory. 

Said an intelligent woman — " Some ou' people sick, all 
'long, befo' 'at time, not suffered to lie down, must sit up 
all time, else Massah say you get lazy, sit up till you all 
so hot inside, all dried up, all life gone. Some, after 
cryin', O Lord how long ? so long, get 'scouraged, tink 

123 



131 SLAVERY IN SOUTH CAROLINA AND THE EX-SLAVES. 

de good time neber come, so say 'ey nrus' gib up, can't 
bear no mo', no mo', no way. Then cryin' and prayin' 
to God fo' 'em, I hear a voice in my soul — voice say 
' which side I am on will prevail. You will see which 
side I am on,' an' I knew I would, an' I did. God did 
promise a Savior, de Savior did come. Vv r e knew ou' 
enemies should be ou' footstool. We love you all, but 
we praise God." 

A deeply pious ex-slave, said, " When I see de ships 
come to Hilton Head, I go into my little cabin, and fall 
down 'fore de Lord, and pray all night ; I neber stop all 
night. I pray dat God bless you, and gib you success ! 
Massah angry, but mus' pray for de comin' ob de Lord, 
an' his people." 

Another said, " I knew God would bless you, an' give 
victory, I feel it when I pray. Massah angry 'cause I 
pray for de North, can't help it, mus' pray for de whole 
worl'. Massah say, * No ! Pray for de 'fed'rates.' But I 
knew God would bless de North. I say to de boys, 
'Work on, work on de fort, work good, boys, 'twont be 
long, dis fort wont do no good for rebels ; work on boys, 
God will soon set his people free.' " 

These are samples of scores of testimonies. 



CHAPTER XXX. 

AMALGAMATION". 

Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things 
are honest, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are 
lovely, whatsoever things are of good report, if there be any 
virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things. 

AmalgamxVtion is tlie progeny, and sure follower, of 
slavery. In every clime and age it has accompanied it. 
It is ever sought, and practised by oppressors. Strangers, 
are lured to their ruin, for its profits. Yet pro-slavery 
men cry Amalgamation ! when they can produce no other 
prejudice. 

Now, where, in the free States, is there any amalgama- 
tion ? Where in the slave States is there not ? There, it 
stalks boldly forth; here, if in some very rare cases it 
appears, it hides, because of just sentiments. 

The Colored do not seek it, first, the world over. They 
wisely prefer their own people. There is not in the Cau- 
casean the warmth of soul, to adapt him to the African. 
There is not the Colored adaptation to him. 

Great efforts were made in Oberlin College, Ohio, for 
years, and in their most excellent society, to produce more 
association between Whites and Colored, for the elevation 
of the latter. But, it was found impossible, even uuder 
the liberal-minded and deeply-Christian influences there, 
and the great talent of many of the Africans who gradu- 
ated there. , 

"We have been to rehearsals preparatory to public con- 

135 



136 SLAVERY IN SOUTH CAROLINA AND THE EX-SLAVES. 

certs there, and seen tlie Colored most honored, both as 
singers and in preparatory business. They evidently felt 
quite at home, if not a little elevated, by their more expen- 
sive color. But the moment business was done, they 
as naturally drew apart from other pupils, iato companies 
by themselves, as water runs down hill. In relation to 
this, an excellent professor there said, "We have given 
up producing much association between the races here. 
"We have made every effort, thinking thereby to benefit 
the Colored. But it is of no use. They are always in 
circles by themselves, and we conclude, now, it is all 
right." 

So it ever is. "When did one find a Colored person in 
his way, or making himself sociable, in any place where 
he had not actual business ? So it is in South Carolina. 
The company of the Colored is far more sought by the 
Whites, than the opposite. When you see Colored men 
talking with soldiers, it is nearly always evident that it is 
the latter that make the effort to prolong it ; and so 
everywhere. It is only by constraint that they favor 
Amalgamation at first, and in almost every case where 
it has actually occurred, it has been the Whites that have 
made advances. 

It is far better that the races are distinct. The jnire 
African is often superior to the Mulatto in the South. It 
is robbery that the race should be cheated of their best 
specimens, as in slavery it ever is. But, if you would see 
Amalgamation, read the following, the legitimate and 
sad fruit of slavery : 

" Are we dealing in romance ? Come, then, and we 
will introduce you to a Vice-President of the United 
States — a very singular man, to be sure, though not sin' 
gular m being a slaveholder, nor singular in having beau- 
tiful Colored daughters, to be sought after — in some sort— 



MAIJKIAGE — VICE-PRESIDENT JOHNSON. 137 

by white gentlemen ; but singular in giving hifl Colored 
daughters a good education, attending them in public as 
a father, and insisting that whoever admired and sought 
them should do so only in the way of honorable marriage ! 
The singularity of Colonel Richard M. Johnson attracted 
the nation's attention. lie was so very singular as to 
treat the mother of his Colored daughters as though she 
were his wife ; to give her the charge of his household ; 
a seat by his side at his table, addressing her as ' Mrs. 
Johnson' — to do all this, instead of selling her in the 
market, as some other great statesmen have sold the 
mothers of their Colored children. When 'Mrs. John- 
son' became religious and wished to unite with the 
Church, the good minister felt it his duty to tell her that 
there was an obstacle in the way — the scandal of her liv- 
ing as she did with Colonel Johnson. She immediately 
communicated the fact to the Colonel. ' You know, my 
dear,' said he, ' I have always been ready to marry you, 
whenever it could be done. I am ready now, and will 
call on your minister about it.' He did so, and requested 
the minister to marry them, after explaining the facts 
of the case. The good minister was now in a worse 
dilemma than before! What! marry Colonel Johnson 
to a Colored woman ! What could he say ? He could 
only say that the law would not permit such a marriage. 
' Yery well,' retorted Colonel Johnson — who was not a 
Christian — ' if your Christian law of marriage will not 
permit me to many the woman of my choice, nor permit 
her to marry the man of her choice, it must even permit 
us to live together without marriage.' So saying he 
walked away, and that was the last that was said about 
the marriage. Whether the lady was received into the 
Church, we cannot tell."* 

* Key to Uncle Tom's Cabin. 



13S SLAVERY EST SOUTH CAROLINA AND THE EX-SLAVES. 

Nothing is more evident to those who actually know 
the Colored, than that while they respect, value, and re- 
vere, the good, they want little companionship with the 
Whites. The fervor, we repeat, of their natures, makes 
the friiriditv, the self-love of the masses most distateful to 
them. Then, too, they are most highly social, and even 
where they do not respect, as they should, their love for 
each other is wonderful. 

While they honor, and reverence, their teachers, while 
they are patient of any amount, of conversation, where 
they can do or get good, still, when all is done, they fall 
into their own circle or color for companionship. This 
fact amazed some of our most excellent teachers. They 
exclaimed, "They seem not to tire of our teaching, and 
to prize us more and more, but they seem, after all, to 
want little of our company." 

• This is precisely the testimony of Oberlin, to which we 
again refer. She has for twenty-eight years received the 
Colored freely to all her privileges and honors. She has 
even seemed to foster them most if possible. She thought 
the way to elevate them was to bring them into close 
association with her ablest, most excellent scholars and 
Christians. But, after years of trial, she has given up 
that the Colored must be allowed to follow their nature, 
which is to seek companionship with each other. Not 
the shadow of amalgamation has fallen there, while in 
slavery it has ruled the day. 

We have the personal testimony of Oberlin professors, 
upon this point, that the Colored and Whites go forward 
most harmoniously, and profitably, together as learners 
and laborers ; but that for companionship they turn to 
their own, particularly the Colored. There has not been 
a case of attachment, or at least engagement, between the 
races, in all the noble Colored scholars that college has 



XENIA COLLEGE CINCINNATI LABORER — INDEPENDENCE. 139 

raised, and not a barrier has been apparent upon that 
point, as we can ascertain. 

AN INCIDENT. 

TVe were most amused, when in the care of the Xenia 
Female College. A devoted lady, from Cincinnati, was 
spending some days with us. As a meeting was going 
on in the Colored church near us, she frequently attended, 
and labored, in every way, for souls, most acceptably. 
She was cordially received, and in fine spirits about the 
meeting, but soon began to droop, as we had expected. 
We most deeply sympathized all along, but it was one of 
those cases that interference never helps, and cannot help. 
Soon she began to sav, "The meeting °;oes on flnelv, 
powerfully, but somehow they do not seem to need much 
help." Again, "They are polite, but actually I think they 
had as soon I were not there." This was the result we 
looked for, from all our experience, as we now comforted, 
her, by assuring her. And so it ever is, and will be. 
Religion sanctifies, but does not destroy nature. In all 
the institutions and churches where they have been re- 
ceived, and fostered, not an instance of marriage has 
occurred. The more pure and elevated the soul becomes, 
the more does it see the fitness of all things. 

"Who would so wrong either the White, or Colored, as 
to lead to unions that must be unhappy from nature's 
inflexible laws ? It is the privilege of each human being, 
to be himself, in purity. It is slavery alone that amalga- 
mates, that outrages nature, that confounds everything 
in one mass of corruption, that renders the South " the 
African bleaching ground." 



CHAPTER XXXI. 

OUT OF LYING. 

Falsehood puts on the face of simple truth, 
And masks i' the habit of plain honesty, 
When she in heart intends most villainy. 

The proficiency of these slaveholders, in lying, which 
we would not intrude upon the reader, but to show the 
necessary and legitimate work, and results, of slavery, 
the effect having been the same in every place, as Russia, 
Turkey, France, Great Britain, etc., etc., where it has 
existed, and to show how much credit can be given to 
tlieir assertions, which are as yet taken after all by the 
masses, as the expose of slavery, or the light it is seen in. 
"We say, their proficiency in lying, would seem Satanic, 
were that dignitary fool enough. For instance — though 
these lies are so odious, we are loth to have the repetition, 
defile this work, still as our object is to draw faithful pic- 
tures, for the best effects, we must not exclude this ugly 
weed, nor leave it in the background — to proceed, then, 
pious, tested, truthful servants said, "Massah told us 'at de 
Yankees would put us in harnesses made in de shape ob 
a man, and we would hab to go on all fours, hitched to 
great wagons filled with stone 'at bosses couldn't draw. 
I beiu' free to speak, now, 'cause this war, say to him : 

" ' 'At would be onpossible. We could not move um 
if a hoss couldn't draw um.' 

" ' But,' said Massah, ' dozen men will stand and whip 

140 



LYING MASTERS NEGRO PATROLS CANNIBALISM. 141 

you, and, if you don't go ahead, they will pierce you 
with their bayonets, and kill vou.' 

" ' 'At would be wasting money, sure, for de man cost 
mo' dan de boss. Can't be possible !' 
" ' You'll see ; dey'll do it,' said Massah. 
" 'Dey all say de ^Northerners live in bar'ls and casks 
and sheds, in de street, der ehii'n born in urn, dey diet 
in um, dey hab nothing for eat but roots and sicli.' 

" But I say, ' dey send us most all we gets ; 'at ii 
strange again !' 

" ' Dey do 'at fo' ou' money, but dey hab nothing to 
wear.' 

" ' 'At strange too, when we get calicos and all cloths, 
from dem ! Can't be ! onpossible !' 

" ' Well they make it all out of ou' cotton. "We'll keep 
'at now, den dey can't hab any ting, hab to go naked.' " 

For three weeks many poor slaves wandered in the 
woods, after our troops took possession. In other places 
they established a regular patrol of men, hiding their 
women and children. 

This was done under the belief, or at least, fear, of 
being shot, cut to pieces, roasted, and eaten by the 
Northerners, which their Masters had told them, was the 
way in which Yankees used Negroes, and though they 
did not fully believe it, still being so often reiterated and 
sworn to, they feared us somewhat. 

One said : " Masaah — a Congressman — swore 'at de 
Yankees would not come, and if dey did, de world would 
turn back, and we all be killed." 

" But," said she, " de war did come ! Massah gone ! 
Praise de Lord ! and it is jus' de same world. De sun 
rise dere, and set dere, jus' where it always did ! It's de 
same world, and de same Jesus !" 



142 SLAVERY EST SOUTH CAROLINA AND THE EX- SLAVES. 

Evidently the oratorical talents of the Congressman 
had been finely used, for they had been exceedingly 
frightened. 

This amiable Congressman, in whipping his poor 
women, because " couldn't do task ;" " could not ;" 
" onpossible ;" would cry, " call upon the devil ! needn't 
call upon the Lord ! Call upon the devil ! I'll whip 
you till you do !" 

" But," said the poor woman, " couldn't call upon de 
debil, when poor body suffer so ! So hab to call upon de 
Lord, and hab to be whip mo' for 'at. Massah say 
soldiers kill we, eat we, carry we to Cuba, grind up our 
babies to make sugar in Cuba. I say : 

" ' Why, Massah, 'at would be flesh, and bone, and 
blood, and not sugar.' 

" < Well they'll do it— you'll see.' 

" But, Missus, we not 'fraid of de soldiers when dey 
come way up 'long 'at fence with deir great guns, and 
all deir tings all shining 1 so. We go rie;ht out to meet 
um, 'cause we fear de Lord. Dey put deir hands right 
out to shake. Oh ! den we so glad, so glad ! But, we 
didn't tink dey kill we, cause Massah hate um so awful ! 
We gib um best got for eat. When dey come 'gin, dey 
kill ou' chickens and pigs, and all, most, but we can't 
care, 'cause dey fights for we, and on' chil'n, dat we be 
free. Neber been in such peace, neber ! ISTeber tink we 
could : work ! nothing to work ! in such peace — no 
driving, no cutting up, no whip when done. We work 
mo', 'cause so peaceful — willing to work, for make some- 
thing. Oh, so glad, so glad ! for dis good time. Didn't 
know I live to see such time. Put all hopes on Jesus. 
Oh ! my poor chile whip, so swell all up, kill it. Oh ! 
my Lord ! Now times so good, don't know what to do, 



TIMES TOO GOOD MASSAII LINCOLN LOVE NEGRO. 143 

too much ! too much ! "Work ! task done ! come home 
here, so peaceaUe, too comfortable ! 'bliged to praise de 
Lord ebery minute 1" 

Would that the reader could have seen her radiant 
face, her grateful, loving, pure, expression of countenance, 
her plate of hominy, her hut, her rags, and heard her 
praises ! Oh ! it was a sight for an angel ! 

" Massah not so hard," she continues. " Driver hard. 
But Massah no let you tell what driver do. He cut you 
up so, tie up ebry woman hands crossed so, stretch way 
up dere so, 'cause task not done, so hard ! so much, 
couldn't do it, couldn't ! onpossible. Whip mos' thirty 
on dis place ebery night. But Jesus been 'mongst we, 
for help we all dese long years. Oh, if it hadn't been 
for him, couldn't lived, couldn't !" 

A servant was speaking of Mr. Lincoln's being so 
awfully homely, when her employer, ,an officer, took out 
•a bill, saving, "he is not so very homely, see, there he is." 
The poor woman most modestly but fervently seized the 
bill, and kissed his portrait, exclaiming : " Good man ! 
good friend to ou' poo' people." But it was with dif- 
ficulty some could be made to believe he was not a 
Colored man, who went around, begging for jobs of rails 
to split, till he was made president. But never but once, 
did we see uncontrollable laughter, among the Colored, 
and that was when we said to them, " Your Massahs said 
they loved you." Then, we seeing how amused they 
were, and withdrawing inside the door, that they might 
freely enjoy the laugh, they went on, with ho ! ho ! ho's ! 
till all rang again. Then one would say, " Oh, yes, 

Massah love Nigger I" then the he ! he ! he's ! 

and ha ! ha ! ha's ! would be uproarious. Another would 
say, " Oh, yes ! he lub you ! he neber cut you up dere, 
and^dere, and dere," putting the hands on different parts 



144 SLAVERY IN SOUTH CAEOLEtTA AND THE EX-SLAVES. 

of the poor body. " Oh, yes ! be neber cut you up 
dere, lie lub you." Then another would say, " Oh, 

Massah lub Niggers !" and the general laugh 

would again be uncontrollable, and we presume, from 
their appearance, that that simple remark lasted for a 
subject, of merriment, for weeks. 

Yet these are the men, whose testimony has implicitly 
been received respecting the characters, labors, and the 
usage and happiness, and far worse, the degradation, 
of these poor creatures, isolated here from the whole 
world. 

President Lincoln was reported a mulatto, as was also 
his wife. An effigy of the new black president was 
drawn through the streets, and finally burned. The 
Colored say, " we knew it be a lie all de time, for de 
Lord 'sure ou' hearts 'at he be ou' friend, and 'at de Lord 
will deliber us out ob de hands of all his enemies." 
Repetition of these falsehoods is painful, and disgusting, 
but one cannot avoid giving it, in order to give a correct 
picture of these Southerners. But, to recount all their 
lies, would require a volume. Indeed, like all other 
liars, they injured their own cause, by them. The veil, 
too flimsy, only revealed the fear, avarice, and hypocrisy 
it was meant to conceal, and weaned those whom now 
they sought to concilitate. 



CHAPTER XXXU. 

MANLINESS. 

Say, what is honor ? 'Tis the finest sense 
Of justice which the human mind can frame, 
Intent each lurking frailty to disclaim, 
And guard the way of life from all offence 
Suffered or done. — Wordsworth. 

"Whekein consists manhood, gentle reader, can yon an- 
swer ? Surely it is not, in purse, social standing, a seat 
in Congress, or any one of the thousands other less seats, 
more or less dignified. Surely it is not in the shade of 
complexion, the education, the gracefulness of manner. 
"Wherein, then, does actual manhood, in its largest, no- 
blest sense, lie ? For however it may rise in splendor, it 
must have a base, an actual foundation. Is it in religion? 
Is it ? Is every one who is truly religions, manly ? 
Would it were so. He is far more manly than he would 
be without it. But does every Christian man treat his 
mother, or one in that more sacred relation, wife, even, in 
a way that can be called manly in all respects ? Would 
it were so ! No. The great majority of the world are 
ashamed of the actual manliness they have. How often 
would that son, most fervently have embraced, kissed, 
that aged and dear mother. How would he have said, 
" Forgive me, mother." How blessed had both been by 
those acts? How noble were they! How Christian! 
How would such nobleness smooth down to the grave 

that mother's thorny path ? Why could it not be done ? 

*l 1*5 



146 8LAVEEY IN SOUTH CAROLINA AND THE EX-SLAVES. 

Why cannot you, reader, do equally, when prompted by 
all that is best, holiest, within you ? Why ? Is it not 
because you have not all manly principles? Ah, yes, 
there it is at last. It is manliness I Manliness in the 
principles ! Yes, a person is manly, whatever is his 
complexion, just in proportion to his principles, and his 
energy in carrying them out. 

But here, chaos, meets us, again. What one principle 
is the leading one, the noblest? You say, " In man it is 
reverence for right, for justice, for woman, for God." 
Well, we will not argue that point. Take your defini- 
tion. Then, in the following cases, who is the man, not 
to say gentleman, Christian, as we might, justly, but who 
is the man ? You shall give in the decision. !Not we. 
In Brooklyn, a large audience is listening to thrilling 
words. " I saw," says the noble advocate of freedom, " I 
saw a Colored man who was literally covered with large 
welts from his head to his heels." What was his offence? 
Header, put close thought, ingenuity, upon the rack, and 
imagine, and answer, What could have caused a manly, 
civilized person to inflict such blows ? What ? Hear it : 
He would not whip his own mother ! That was his 
crime. lie would die, but he would not whip her who 
bore him. Was that manly ? Which, in that case, 
was the man, the civilized man? the cultivated, the 
Christian man ? 

Another case we give. It is of a little girl. Few know 
of her existence. But in her one lone little heart, is shut 
up a rich world of womanhood. But, he who stole her, at 
her birth — stole, we say, for no one dare lift his hand to 
God, and say, " Thou madest a slave." No ! she came 
from his hands free. This man, because he could do it, 
stole her, seized her, and ever since, he has regarded her 
as a thing ! a thing that had hands, and feet, and could 



SWEET VISIONS OF THE TOOR SLAVE GIRL. 



147 



therefore be used instead of his own, or some one whom 
he could honestly hire. She, too, can suffer. " Good !" he 
cries, " that gives me power over her. Good ! she shall 
serve me ; she has no rights." But while waiting in an 
ante-room, overcome by fatigue from tasks to which her 
little frame is unequal, she commits the crime of nodding. 

Oh, how she starts ! Visions of awful whippings, rush 
upon her, she raises her little hands and thanks God, for 
waking lier before Massah saw her. She rubs her poor 
little hands and her face, and eyes, and' stands upon her 
feet, for fear the awful crime of yielding to nature's ex- 
haustion should subject to horrid mangling her little 
body. Yes, now she is quite awake. Now she can surely 
sit a moment and rest, and be ready to spring to her feet 
if she hears Massah coming. With little heart glowing 
with gratitude for her safety, and this privilege, she sits 
down to rest, just for a moment, for in this house, one 
person wanting her so early, another, so late, little sleep, 
and hard toil have exhausted her delicate little body. 

But in an instant she is gone ! asleep ! She sees the 
Savior, folding little ones to his breast. Ah, she is 
advancing, advancing, toward him. She, too, will soon, 
soon ! be in his arms. Yes, some sweet influence in that 
holy place, draws her toward the dear bosom of the Man 
of Sorrows ! soon that throbbing head will be upon his 
dear bosom. When lo! a stunning agony passes through 
her frame. She is upon the floor, and looking mildly up, 
her poor eyes rest upon her infuriated Master. He fol- 
lows the blow that levelled her, with kicks, upon those 
tender limbs. In vain the little hands, and streaming 
eyes are raised, for forgiveness. There is not a feeling in 
his unmanly soul that can be touched, by that mute 
appeal, for she dare not utter one word, she has learned 
better. 



148 SLAVERY IN SOUTH CAROLINA AND THE EX-SLAVES. 

He calls the driver ; and a powerful Negro, six feet tall, 
and strong and with a most determined look, appears. 

" Here, Massah !" 

" Take this imp away to the barn, and give her twenty- 
five lashes ! Now lay it on well. ' I'll see if she can't 
keep awake !" 

" Yes, Massah." 

The driver has no particular knowledge of the child, 
no particular interest in her — she is only a little " Nigger." 
He takes her away promptly. Oh, righteous God, why 
is innocence permitted such agony as that little heart now 
Buffers on her way to torture? He walks fiercely on 
before her. Her imbruted Master watches them from the 
veranda, and enjoys, even in anticipation, the feast, that 
her torture spreads, so familiar, that he can see it mentally 
where he is. They get into the barn. The driver turns 
and looks upon her. What is she to him more than any 
other child? But he is a man. Now if he does not 
obey, his own agony, must pay for it. Massah is listen- 
ins: to resale himself with the sound of the blows, and 
the assurance of the agony that is so familiar to him. 
Reader, you are capable, by nature, of becoming just 
such a person, under the influence of slavery. The noble 
driver says: "Poor ting, she can ncber, neber get away 
from Massah. Men, dogs, guns, nature's barriers, are all 
Vainst her. I will shield her 'is once. The chil'n will 
tell, likely. Massah will hear it ; I shall be cut in pieces 
by his lash, under his eye. Yes, it will likely be so. 
Yes ! but I will shield her 'is one time ; I can suffer it 
easier 'an she." 

All this passes in the instant through his soul, even 
under that fierce face, while he is reaching the place of 
torture. 

" Now," he says to the frightened girl, " now you 



MEN, DOGS, GUNS — NOBLE DRIVER — SALE — MANHOOD. 149 

screnm while I whip dis, or something that will sound, 
like it was yon," and the deception is carried ont. 

She falls upon her knees, and thanks him, and screams 
at the right time, and laughs, gratefully, in the interval, 
and is taken to her poor bed, in his strong arms. Massah 
seeing this, thinks it all right, and so it is, when he does 
not find it out. When he does, he superintends the 
torture of the driver himself; and one such told me, 
" When Massah did fin' it out, 'e punishment was awful, 
onspeakable," and that he thus shielded children over, 
and over, with, full expectation of it, and his words 
were amply corroborated. His was one of the finest 
expressions of countenance we ever saw. 

Kow, reader, can you see, by imagination, these two 
men. Which had character ? manliness ? But one more 
fact. 

A walking creature, that calls himself a man, has a 
girl for sale — for he is honorable, and must pay gamb- 
ling, and other such bills. He advertises : 

" Kegroes for Sale. — A negro woman, $4 years of 
age, and her two children, one eight and the other three 
years old. Said negroes will be sold separately or 
together, as desired. The woman is a good seamstress. 
She will be sold low for cash, or exchanged for groceries. 
For terms, apply to 

" Matthew Bliss & Co., 1 Front Levee." 
— Nt,io Orleans Bee. 

The day arrives, the young -woman is brought forth, 
placed upon the block. She tries not to look beautiful, 
but dares not look sad. A company approaches, con- 
taining many smoking, vulgarly strutting, spitting, swear- 
ing, creatures, fancying themselves men, and thinking to 
add more to their manhood by the influence of purchasing 



150 SLAVERY IN SOUTH CAROLINA AND THE EX-SLAVES. 

tins slave. They walk up, and examine her poor face, 
count teeth, feel limbs and chest, all which are accom- 
panied by remarks appropriate to their morals. Now 
some would think she was the despisable one in this 
crowd, but where is the crime, the disgrace, the contemp- 
tible, unmanly, conduct, the base insult to womanhood ? 
"Who is the barbarian, who is the low beast in every- 
thing, but mere outward form, and immortal soul, which 
soul is robbed, too, and will quail, when the judgment 
is set, and the books are opened ? 

But who now is disgraced, the poor slave of those more 
than contemptible men ? 

We say, she is not disgraced, though so awfully 
wronged. No one man can disgrace another, forcibly. 
True dishonor only can be, by our own action. By what 
we stoop to be, or to do, only is our character actually 
lowered. 

But, of the two, this woman and her purchaser, whom 
does this action dishonor most ? Suppose you had to be 
one of the two, absolutely, and there was no escape ! 
reader, which would you prefer to be ? "Which would 
you, in the presence of all the pure, of Jesus be ? Which 
would you be willing to look back, from all, all ! eternity 
upon having been ? 

On which side, in all these cases, is the civilization? 
the respectability? the manliness? 

Now, where is respectability, in slavery ? The poor 
slave obeys his Master involuntarily, and only so far as 
he prefers that to death. He obeys him merely with his 
body, which is not the man, except as it becomes so, in 
the bestial man. While he does that, he ! is often, in 
most holy communion, reading his Eedeemer face to 
face. His study is God ! God revealed to man, and more 
and more clearly revealed, just in proportion to his ac- 



IXSULT TO WOMAN WHO DISHOHOKED? GOD THE STUDY. 151 

tual needs and hungerings, and liis actual and constant 
hanging upon him alone. He conies nearer to Jesus 
than the angels ; for there is a song that none but the 
redeemed can sing. There is a place for them next the 
throne. 

But, while he is thus in communion with all the holy, 
yea with God, and merely in body serving his Master, 
what is that so-called Master obeying? How can we 
turn to the revolting picture. We will not, fully. But 
lie is a voluntary slave to every mean passion — passions 
which the least child can call up, to rule him, to his utter 
misery here, his utter disgust at himself, in lucid mo- 
ments, and eternal death. 

That there are noble exceptions does not weigh any- 
thing against these general and awful facts. 

But in all these cases, where is the civilization? the 
manhood ? the Christianity ? 

In short, travel through slavedom, you see the Negro 
subject to the White; but to whom, to what! to what! 
is that Master, that Mistress, in most cases, subject? 

But we must give one more illustration of mauliness, 
a sketch of a speech made by Prince Lambkin, an ex- 
slave, on Sabbath, August 10, 1862, in Fernandina, 
Florida, on the occasion of a visit of Gen. Saxton. 

"The Lord send on me so much trouble. I was in the 
world, in the horrible pit, and when my hands were 
tied. I was whipped, and I could hold up no longer, 
just sinking, the Lord he reach out his hand and save 
me. Let us all pray. The Lord send deliverance, 
if we pray. I don't 'spect my liberty will do me much 
good. Slavery has worn me out. There ain't much left 
for me and you, my brethren ; but liberty will do the 
rising generation good. Our children must wwk for 
it — must fight for it. 0, my brethren, I haven't got 
only half my body here. My wife and child are with 



152 PRINCE LAMBKIN, 

the rebels. It make me feel so bad. I work hard, I earn 
my bread ; but 0, my brethren and sisters, I can't eat 
it ! It don't taste good, for I don't know my family has 
a mouthful. Rebels all so wicked, I fear my family 
starve. I can't eat, (with great emotion,) but, brethren, 
I thank God I live to see this day. And I do so much 
bless the Lord, and am thankful to him that he send his 
true ministers, who preach to us the full Gospel so as 
we never heard it afore in all our lives. It do my soul 
good. I love this Gospel, and the Lord bless these 
faithful servants for evermore. 0, thank God, I live to 
see this day and the old flag ! Once that old flag, just 
like as Saul, persecuted us ; it was our enemy. We 
loved the Lord ; we were good people, but our masters 
were wicked. They swear, and drink, and gamble, and 
sell us, and the flag be their friend and our enemy. Now 
it get converted, and it become good, like the apostle, 
and he go and bless the same people, and do them good 
he persecuted. So, my brethren, the old flag is convert- 
ed now. It looks sweet now. It protects us now. I 
love to look at it now, it looks so smiling ! And, as the 
general was saying, if we would fight ; why now I could 
fight. They say ' we have got no country. We don't 
want any home.' Why, my brethren, we got a home 
over in the promised land ; and, by the grace of God, I 
mean to hold out faithful. And, my brethren, we must 
all pray for the general and all the officers who have 
come down to help us. They ain't fighting for them- 
selves. They are fighting for us, and we must pray the 
Lord to have them in his keeping. And the soldiers ; 
they get sick, and many of them die for us. 0, they be 
so kind. We must all pray the Lord to bless the sol- 
diers, and give them all the crown of life. And, my 
brethren, I feel like fighting for the old flag ; don't you ? 
I mean to fight ; and if the flag, which now be our 
friend, go down, we will all go down with her." 




CHAPTER XXXIII. 



ENERGY OP THE COLORED. 

Whatsoever thy hand fmdeth to do, do it with thy might. 

' What are we sent on earth for ? say, to toil ; 
Nor seek to leave thy tending of the vines, 
For all the heat o' the day, till it declines, 

And death's mild curfew shall from work assoil. 

God did anoint thee with his odorous oil, 

To wrestle, not to reign." Mrs. Browning. 

To prove that they excel in energ) T , it is only needful 
to point to the whole and individual testimony of the 
military in all reports, letters, and documents in which 
their noble, brave, energetic, patient course has been 
referred to, to show that the energy of the Colored un- 
der sufficient stimulus is amazing. They will put forth 
most patient and long-continued effort for an object 
they much desire, and consider attainable. And this 
energy seems more natural, or at least developed earlier 
than in most races. One, or two, instances we give. A 
Colored woman said to us : 

"After de rebels run off, dey come stealing back, to 
get deir slaves. Dey come sweeping round dis house, 
scouring de place, to hunt um, to care um to the Main. 
Some dey caught, 'cause come so quick. Dese little 
chil'n — of about five and seven years, we think — ran 
down hide in de mud, 'cause tide is out. Men come 'roun 
right here — within ten feet of um — but didn't see um, all 






154 SLAVERY IN SOUTH CAROLINA AND THE EX-SLAVES. 

but faces cobered up. Dey git in, but dey couldn't git 
out, hab to dig um up." 

Where are the white children, of the same age, that 
would have done this ? Their aged parents, the rebels 
did not want. 

Another instance. Two of our ladies, in visiting a 
plantation, said to a woman, in the presence of two little 
ones, just fairly able to walk : 

" Why do you not wash their clothes ?" 

" Missus, it is onpossible, haint got no soap, nor a thing 
to put on 'em while I does it." 

" Well, you must have some sent you ; but you can 
surely wash their faces." 

Soon, the ladies returned, and were electrified with 
laughter, to see the little todlers, both stooping over a 
basin, and rubbing their faces most energetically with 
their own little hands, fully determined to be clean, and 
this, at an age, when white children would be screaming 
in nurse's arms. Superhuman efforts, too, to escape from 
slavery, show great energy, their only other encourage- 
ment being faith that God would help them. 

In one instance, to save his wife, a man crawled two 
miles upon his knees amongst deadly enemies and pickets 
thickly placed, and was successful. Some crossed Broad 
Eiver, three miles wide, upon boards, exclaiming, when 
arriving: "God brought we ober dis Jordan, into de 
good land ob liberty ;" or, " God provide de way ;" 
" God give we de boat ;" " I ask him, he say he will, 
and he did, he keep we." 

A most excellent chambermaid said, "she came from de 
Main mor'n thirty miles through rebels," most deadly in 
pursuing, and killing the Colored. She came on foot, 
and with only another girl, for company. 

" How did you dare start ?" said we. 



TRUST IN GOD — POISONOUS LIZARD — ENERGY — TASTE. 155 

" Why, Missus, I'se a member — church member — and 
I ask de Lord to bring me safe, and he say he would, and 
he did. Nobody spoke to we, nor hurt we, nor scared 
we. De Lord brought we." 

Many of them do much work by moonlight, to get 
necessaries, and respectable dress. But upon the hardest 
plantations, they are not allowed a garden, of any extent. 
We suppose this is for fear of leading them to think of 
comforts, and that, leading to seeking their liberty, for 
what other reason could there be ? when so much land 
goes to waste around their huts. 

In a church, upon a large plantation where the Master 
would not afford them a floor for it, and where, while 
listening to a sermon, a poisonous lizard sprang upon our 
lap, then glided away among the naked feet of the dear 
little Colored boys, a pulpit not being furnished, the 
poor slaves had twisted withes, and wound them with the 
grey moss, and by great effort, had made a pulpit that 
was beautiful. Windows, too, could not be furnished, 
but rude, door-like shutters opened in the places of 
windows. This is but a sample of the poverty-stricken 
appearances, everywhere, and this, when the law gives 
the master fifteen shillings per day damages, if the slave 
is disabled from work, by another, not under his employ. 
For so does the love of flogging prevail, that slaves are 
often stript in the roads and whipt, and, as the white 
man's oath alone can be taken, this is done with impunity, 
except in rare cases. 

But, the energy of the Colored is further shown in their 
herculean efforts to make a 'spectable appearance, with 
little means, and in most ingenious and excellent mend- 
ing of injured articles ; all pronounce their work remark- 
able. 

An instance : A Colored man had a coat presented, 



156 SLAVERY IN SOUTH CAROLINA AND THE EX-SLAVES. 

about two sizes too small. "Wliat was to be done ? Most 
people in that class, would have let it be strained out. 
Not so, this woman. But as the coat was of a bright 
snuff-color, she obtained some dark-blue cloth, and put 
into each seam, of the body of the coat, a piece, some three 
inches wide at the centre, and tapering regularly to both 
ends of the seam. It was beautiful, so neatly done, with 
such a look of completeness, and a good fit. One said — 
" If a New York tailor was here, he might get a hint 
that would be of great value to him." We merely give 
this as an illustration, of their ingenuity and energy. 

The fact is, everything comfortable has had to come by 
their wits, even with extra work, in some way, and if 
those wits are well developed, in more than one way, it 
is the fault of oppression. 

Our Peter said, his " Massah awful scared, said ' Peter, 
Hilton Head is taken, de Yankees are coming, we go in 
de carriage, we run fo' life. You take de slaves into de 
swamp, and camp out dare and take care ob urn. You 
understand, Peter V 

" ' Yes, Massah.' 

" ' You take um way, and take care on um V 

" ' Yes, Massah,' said the meek Peter. 

" "When Massah gone, I take care on em, I brings 
dem all cross de land, den cros de riber, den to Beaufort, 
to dis land ob freedom. I get um most all over — one 
hundred and fifty in all— in de night, de last load come 
on de boat when sun two hou's high in de morning. Pick- 
ets shooting at we, few yards off. But I not 'fraid, 'cause 
de Lord he help us." 

Hundreds of instances of such energy might be re- 
corded. Many, it might not answer to name, until the 
war is over. 



THKKE HUNDRED READING AT POUT EOTAL. 157 

LEARNING TO HEAD 

How sadly isolated are these poor people ! Of the 
world, the world of man, the world of love, of sweet 
homes, of Christians, of philanthropists, of scholars, of 
sufferers to spread the kingdom of Christ ; the world of 
those in deepest devotion to God — of all these, how little 
do the j know. 

What volumes upon all these points are yet to be 
opened to them ; and how anxious they are to peruse 
them ! There is nothing, about which they manifest such 
desire, and intense eagerness, invariably almost, as read- 
ing and writing. They say far more about this than even 
freedom. This seemed singular at first, but it seems to 
contain freedom, in their minds. And they do learn. 

One lady said she taught the alphabet to a whole school 
in one hour, and when they came the next day, all, ex- 
cepting two adults, knew every letter. A large number 
at Port Royal, some think three hundred, some more, 
now read the word of God. All are anxious, even 
those whose eyes are dimwith age. And what is most 
encouraging, is that every one, as soon as he learns a let- 
ter, becomes a teacher to one who is ignorant. Every 
Colored man carries his spelling-book in his pocket, and 
groups are seen in all imaginable places, and attitudes, 
even in groups on street corners, conning their books, 
and assisting each other. 

When we visit them, mothers bring the spelling-books 
at once, to show us bow far their children have gone ; 
and the interest continually increases. Old people, child- 
ren, and grand-children, all are seen reading out of one 
book, and all seem equally ambitious and animated. If 
you have a spare moment, in visiting a plantation after 
their tasks are done, you have only to commence teach.- 



153 SLAVERY IN SOUTH CAROLINA AND THE EX-SLAVES. 

ing one person, old or young, and in a single minute you 
are surrounded by an eager group, kneeling, standing, 
leaning in any position unwearied, so as to get eyes upon 
the book, and whom no occurrence diverts, for one instant, 
from your instruction. And when you must leave, they 
say, 

"O! Missus, please read us one hymn befo' you go ;" 
or, if they are writing, even if it be with a stick in the 
sand — " Make us one mo' letter, please Missus." 

Such eagerness and constancy must soon be rewarded 
by good scholarship. A minister from Washington City 
says : " The intense desire of the Negroes to learn to read, 
is beyond anything I have ever witnessed elsewhere, and 
their progress is fully equal to that which you will find 
among any other class of learners. I was giving a lesson 
the other day at the Navy Yard, wdiere the class had but 
an hour at noon both for their dinner and their lesson. 
One of the men, not satisfied with having spelled out and 
read the lesson given him tbe preceding day, had actually 
mastered four lessons in advance. Overflowing with de- 
light, and perfectly chuckling over his success, he said at 
the close, ' Wal, now, Massah, I reckon I'll git larnin', 
won't I V Another, not satisfied w T ith spelling out the 
words, looking on the book, wished me to hear him with- 
out the book, and I found he had the whole lesson per- 
fectly. 

" Our Alexandria school is greatly successful. During 
my last hour there, they answered questions with such 
fluency I was driven from card to card — we teach by 
large cards hung upon the wall — from capitals to small 
letters, from punctuation marks to figures till I was at 
my wit's end to find something they could not answer on 
our elementary cards." 



CHAPTER XXXIY. 

NEGRO QUARTERS. 

And meekly still the martyrs go, 

To keep with pain their solemn bridal. 

Massey. 

There is no work extant respecting the Negro, but 
misrepresents him. Not one ! Not even the works of 
those most warmly enlisted in his favor, do him justice, 
or speak truly respecting him, at least, as he is, in 
America. Not one. The reason is obvious. The only 
light in which he could be seen, was that cast by slavery, 
for no other power had access, real access, to them. 
Many travellers, and others, may have imagined, they 
had access, saw things, as they were, but it will yet be 
universally acknowledged that this was not so, and that, 
however candid, and open appearances were, they saw in 
these dark places, merely, but just what the Masters 
chose, they should see, and nothing more. They heard 
just what tales the poor Colored, knew it was for their 
whole skin, and length of days, that they should tell, 
whatever appearances were. The " greenness " of the 
traveller, or transient resident, who imagines that a 
Negro would dare be sulky, or sad, in appearance, or 
otherwise than jovial, wants a name, or, that the Negro, 
would dare act himself, in any one way, freely. 

All this, is said now to prepare the way for the refuta- 
tion, of that awfully mean and contemptible falsehood, 
that has been rung, and rung, through the world, by 



160 SLAVERY IN SOUTH CAROLINA AND THE EX-SLAVES. 

those whose life's study, and science, it was, to prejudice 
the world against the Negro, " that they herd together 
like beasts." This is a falsehood, to express the mean- 
ness of which, no adjective is sufficient. 

It is not so ! Let the world hear. Let the warmest 
friends of the poor Colored, so long inlposed upon, know, 
it is not so. They do not so herd together. But in 
their poor huts, without a window, without a chimney, 
without a floor, without a decent chair, or table, from the 
misers, to whom every day's work of theirs, is worth 
fifteen shillings* — which can be collected by law, if one is 
disabled — without any of these things, they have yet 
partitions that divide their huts, probably twenty or 
twenty-five feet square, into three apartments, so that 
they do not " herd together " so much, as persons in 
many other cases. 

These partitions are. most rude, but they are there, 
invariably. They consist of puncheon usually, or trees 
split instead of sawed, and inclose just the length of 
the bed, a sort of berth. The door is hung by wooden 
hinges, in this land of poverty, or old soles of shoes, but 
it is there. The poor hut is the work of the slave, and 
usually, out of labor hours. Perhaps when a Master is 
" oncommon good," he gives the poor man a day or two, 
with the help of a mechanic. But we never heard of 
this, but the opposite. So, that, these decencies cost the 
poor Negro great toil, usually, but the toil is given, the 
decencies are had. So one of the refuges of lies, one of 
the falsehoods, under which slaveholders have hid them- 
selves, is exposed. We call every one, who has been to 
South Carolina, the deepest dark, of the dark land of 
slavedom, to witness the truth of our assertion, that, 
invariably, however rude or cheap the hut, there are 

* Goodell. 



HUTS OF TIIKEE AFAHTMKNTS — THE IUtO-SLAVERY MAN. 161 

tlirce apartments in it, however small. "We do not say 
that there is none not so, but in entering hundreds, we 
saw none. 

The slaveholder, has long seen, that nothing, so recon- 
ciled the Northerner to slavery, as the impression that 
the Negroes were almost beasts, and therefore, it was 
little matter, comparatively, what they suffered. Now 
the entire opposite, of all this, is the fact. Never, have 
we seen such effort to make poor rags shield the form, 
never such effort to live decently, even though it w r as 
with scarcely a bodily comfort. 

But these quarters are horrid. We have been in those, 
which having no floor, because boards could not be 
afforded, or gotten, had been swept out until the ground 
was like a dish, and the poor inmates, said, that in rainy 
times, the water stood, so that they were wet to the 
knees, in spite of all effort to prevent it. One woman 
had suffered terribly from this exposure. Yet very 
near, there was high ground, unused, and a competent 
mechanic certainly could have moved the whole structure 
in a few hours. 

But wisdom has been denied these poor slaveholders. 
This fact strikes one, momentarily, everywhere, upon 
their plantations. But every, every failure, has gone to 
make the sufferings of the poor slaves more and more 
acute. 

A pro-slavery man was visiting Beaufort. The minis- 
ter whose guest he was did not argue much, but simply 
took him out upon an ordinary plantation. When he 
came to the huts, he raised his hands in horror, exclaim- 
ing, " You do not say the slaves lived here !" 

"I do." 

" What liars ! were their Masters ! What liars ! Why 
I would not put a hog in such a place. I cannot believe 



1G2 SLAVERY IN SOUTH CAROLINA AND THE EX-SLAVES. 

my own eyes !" said the man, with many other epithets. 
But common epithets, and facts, were far better forgot- 
ten, so only the cause be removed. For that we labor. 
Suffice it to say, the minister had to preach to this man 
charity for the ignorance, training, and prejudices, of the 
slaveholder ever after. 

Said a minister, ." If one is possessed of a pro-slavery 
devil, let him come here, and it will be cast out, without 
a word." Yet in these awful huts lived many of whom it 
is true, that " they shall be mine, saith God, in the day 
when I make up my jewels." They lived, toiled, suffered, 
died here, but not alone, not alone, praise God ! The Man 
of Sorrows walked with them through these fires, through 
these floods, through these agonies, through these tortures, 
through death. O ! the body, the poor body, how crushed ; 
the soul, how triumphant ! Many, many go up from these 
dark huts to join the great army of martyrs. Many have 
died under the lash rather than tell falsehoods ! saying, 
" Must sabe soul ! couldn't sabe body." Many, rather 
than part with chastity! many, or some, rather than whip 
their parents or wives. The simple, heart-rending story, 
of those only, of them who survived, is told ; the great 
majority have no earthly record. And it was not be- 
cause their Masters were brutes, or at least, originally so, 
it was a fruit inseparable from the tree, slavery. Those 
Masters did not intend, usually, to kill, but to torture to 
the very extreme of endurance ; to crush the manhood 
out of them, and terrify all the rest into surrender of 
their manhood. But the means failed. The submission 
was only external. The Colored man rose, in God, far, 
above his tormentor, and felt that the real man was out 
of his reach. Still torture, — Ah ! torture ! of the poor, 
poor body, was just as hard for him to bear as for you 
and me, reader. 



DESOLATION AROUND QUARTERS — FURNITURE — POVERTY. 163 

Nothing is seen growing around the Negro quarters on 
most plantations. Nor even is there a stump or block of 
wood, or anything where one could sit a moment. An 
old leech, or crib, would be a beauty, anything, that took 
away the look of desolation. Nothing but sand, poor 
weeds, and a few rags. Nothing but the great hoes stand- 
ing against the hut, yet land enough wasted around many 
of them to support a family, with intelligent labor. But 
the poor slave cannot have a good garden without learn- 
ing to think. But thinking is dangerous ; and one 
thought mav brimj; on another, until he will think of 
freedom. So, as raising chickens, admits of no improve- 
ment, inspires no new thought, that is the only thing 
he is allowed to do, on some plantations. 

The only furniture inside the hut is a washtub, in which 
water is carried on the head often from long distances ; 
hominy -pots, ever stewing in the ashes, boards propped 
up so as to form a kind of table, evidently not used or 
washed for weeks, some few dishes on a shelf against the 
wall, or on the table or floor, some children eating gar- 
den beans from small wooden buckets, a bench, and sort 
of berth, where a heap of rags shows it is used as a bed, 
and sometimes one or two old chairs, and some boxes. 

How we did often regret, that lack of time forbade us 
to show them, and have these poor rags washed, sewed 
together, tilled with moss, everywhere hanging from the 
trees, or with prairie grass, since straw, in this land of 
poverty, could not be atforded. But field-work, no soap, 
no water, no kettles, tubs, fires, or wood, would seem to 
make it impossible. Indeed to keep away all ideas, espe- 
cially new ones, of personal comfort, evidently has been 
the aim. 

Then the filth, no boundary between the ashes of 
some chimneyless huts and the deep dirt upon the 
floor or bare earth, passes all description. "Wood chips, 



164: SLAVERY IN SOUTH. CAROLINA AND THE EX-SLAVES. 

kindlers, always in the hut, mixed with rags and dirt 
that had not been moved for weeks certainly, for the 
poor women were formerly in the field during every 
moment of light usually. They seem to have not the 
least idea that any one will enter, and it is evident and 
proven, that, in the time of their Masters, no white per- 
son ever did. In short, the most perfect absence of all 
apj)earanee of comfort. Yet some, during all this time, 
lived tidily as possible; swept their poor huts with pine 
bushes by moon-light, and the space of ground around 
them. 

But in these huts the villainous darkness has long 
reigned, only darting behind boxes, and piles of rags, 
when the poor door was opened, then resuming its sway. 
But it will now be cast out. Windows and furniture are 
now being provided by the Freedman's Belief Association, 
so that a pattern hut may be erected and furnished on 
each plantation, for some aged couple, who will keep it 
nicely — and there will be no failure there — in order 
to stimulate all others. Already the great improvements 
in furniture, and neatness, and habits, that have been 
made, through the efforts of the noble Superintendents 
and ladies of the Mission, are amazing; and soon, under 
freedom, steam-mills will convert the large wasting pine 
logs into boards, which now it is almost an utter impossi- 
bility to obtain. Comfortable dwellings will rise ; and 
how will these good Colored people bless, by their kind- 
ness, their true piety, excellent dispositions, their know- 
ledge of farming, and their capacities and hearts for 
labor, whoever shall have the care of these lands until 
they have their dues out of them. There could not be a 
more delightful position, provided they were hired and 
paid honestly, though it were very little. They seem as 
much to belong here as the palmettoes. The land would 
mourn without them, and be desolate under any other 



OPINIONS OF TnOSE WHO HAD CARE THE FRFF BOB. 1H5 

labor. No one, who has had the care of plantations, 
could think of parting -with the majority of them, hut 
'would consider it an insufferable deprivation. But this 
subject requires an entire chapter. 

We visited a plantation yesterday, now for two weeks 
under the care of Mr. Fox of New York, and found two 
cabins whitewashed, clean and comfortable, and the in- 
mates neat, and happy as birds. Such a sight nevei 
greeted us in Negro quarters before. But now (six 
weeks later), on many plantations, it is common. They 
say " the free hoe flies easy, and quick ; before we work 
for lick, now, for wife and chil'n." They say, " we do not 
care what work we do, or how much. We will do any- 
thing, and we thank God for it, for work, and for we see 
dis good day, and for dis good chance. De Lord, is try- 
in«- us, to see what we will do, wid freedom." 

Indeed such are the improvements, already under the 
labors of those under the auspices of the Freedman's Be- 
lief Association, that many masters would scarcely know 
their former " quarters," or people. Still, never can 
their dwellings be homes, until the women are allowed 
to devote their time mostly to them. This is a vital 
point. Their readiness and zeal, in present improve- 
ments, prove that this will be done to good effect, and 
with taste rarely equalled among persons of that class. 
How will this land smile under freedom ! Free, manly 
men, going forth in the mornings, to labor, leaving good, 
neat, well-filled, and well-kept dwellings, and returning 
to all home-comforts, and the family altar instead of the 
lash. Then will the products be, as in the West Indies, 
vastly increased under free labor. Then will all see, that 
not the curse of God rests upon the land— as under 
slavery, was most painfully evident to all — but His bless- 
ing, that maketh rieh and addeth no sorrow. 



CHAPTEK XXXV. 



PREJUDICE AGAINST COLOR. 



The poor slave knows men, Christians, only by tales of 
cruelty and despotic power, every effort being made by 
lying Masters to induce him to shrink from contact with 
the world. Of religion, too, beyond his experience, he 
knows little except that it is made by odious teachers to 
engrave the bondage, deeper than the lash striving to 
write it, upon his soul, in its most susceptible moments. 
Yet something within, which is divine, says that this 
teaching is all unjust, untrue. Still, they have had no 
real pastors, but those of their own color, equally crushed 
and suffering. "All other ministers must preach as 
' Massah low'd,' and we had no open Gospel," say they. 

But they will have true apostles. There are those 
who will be willing, glad, to labor with them, when, to 
do so, aright, is not to rush into death. There are Ash- 
muns, and Drummonds, and Wilkinses, and Wesleys. 
And these must and will, labor for them in the Gospel. 

This is necessary. For, just in proportion to his degra- 
dation, does the Negro despise his own race. This is one 
of the direst wounds of slavery. So often, and so long, 
has he heard his race called " Nigger," with just such a pre- 
fix as avarice, hatred, revenge, or meaner passions, sug- 
gested. But the prevailing epithet has been so long one 
expressive of contempt, and disgust, so constantly falling 
upon the bare hearts, of a most impressible race, that 
upon the least occasion, those feelings appear, and to be 

166 



ODIOUS APPELLATIONS TESTIMONIALS OF TRAVF.LLEIIS. 107 

called a "black Nigger" embodies all that is odious — so 
that just in the ratio of their degradation, are they depend- 
ent for instruction, upon the Whites, especially in the 
slave States. We scorn to plead with the Whites on the 
question of color, but for the comfort, and benefit of the 
Colored, we insert the following : 

" On my late tour, in August, 1825," says Dr. Philip, 
" I first came in contact with the Bechuanas. I have 
Beldom seen a finer race of people ; the men are generally 
well made, and had an elegant carriage ; and many of the 
females were slender, and extremely graceful. I could 
see at once, from their step and air, that they had never 
been in slavery. They had an air of dignity and inde- 
pendence in their manners, which formed a striking con- 
trast to the crouching and servile appearance of the 
slave."* 

On visiting a family of this tribe, Dr. Philip observes : 
" I had in my train a young man who was a native of 
Lattakoo ; and when they found out there was a person 
in our company who understood their language, they 
were quite in raptures. I think I never saw two finer fig- 
ures than the father and the eldest son. They were both 
above six feet ; and their limbs were admirably propor- 
tioned. The father had a most elegant carriage, and was 
tall and thin ; the son, a lad about 18 years of age, was 
equally well proportioned, and had one of the finest 
open countenances that can possibly be imagined. The 
second son was inferior in stature, but he had a fine coun- 
tenance also ; and, while they indulged in all their native 
freedom, animated by the conversation of my Bechuana, 
or began to tell the story of their misfortunes, expressing 
the consternation with which they were seized when they 
saw their children and parents killed by an invisible wea- 
* Philip's " African Researches." 



1CS SLAVERY IN SOUTH CAROLINA AND THE EX-SLAVES. 

p.on, and their cattle taken from them, they became elo- 
quent in their address ; their countenances, their eyes, 
their every gesture, spoke to the eyes and to the heart."* 

"Teysho, chief counsellor of Mateebe, Kiug of the 
Wankeets of South Africa, is a handsome man," says the 
same writer ; " and the ladies who were with him were 
fine looking women, and had an air of superiority about 
them." f 

We have the testimony of another recent traveller, and 
resident for some time in South Africa. Thomas Prin- 
gle, in speaking of the Bechuana, or great Kafir family, 
says: " Some of them were very handsome. One man 
of the Tamaha tribe, was, I think, the finest specimen of 
the human figure I ever beheld in any country — fully six 
feet in height, and graceful as an Apollo. A female of 
the same party, the wife of a chief, was also a beautiful 
creature, with features of the most handsome and delicate 
European mould.'''' % 

It has often been asserted, that independently of the 
woolly hair and the dark complexion of the Negroes, 
there are sufficient differences between them and the rest 
of mankind, to mark them as a very peculiar tribe. This 
may be the case to some extent. Yet from the foregoing 
remarks of accredited travellers, it is evident that the 
principal differences are not so constant as may generally 
be imagined. Many Negroes, we have been informed, 
strike Europeans as being remarkably beautiful. This 
would not be the case if they deviated much from the 
European standard of beauty. Slaves in the Colonies, 
brought from the east coast of intertropical Africa, and 
from Congo, are often destitute of those peculiarities, 

* Philip's " African Researches". f Idem. 

| Fringle's "Sketches of South Africa." 



EXPECTATIONS — NORTHERN LADIES. 1G9 

which, in our eyes, constitute ugliness and deformity. 
"In looking over a congregation of Blacks," observe 
Sturge and Harvey, " it is not difficult to lose the impres- 
sion of their color. There is among them the same diver- 
sity of countenance and complexion, as among Euro- 
peans ; and it is only doing violence to one's own feelings, 
to suppose for a moment that they are not made of the 
same blood as ourselves."* 

Most here, love the pious Colored, tenderly; true, we did 
not kiss them, as was asserted, not one of them, for we 
would not, by so doing, create an expectation in them, 
and thus put it in the power of other white ladies to 
slight them. In short, in all our dealings with them, we 
tried not to prepare the way, for those whose black is not 
of the face, to wound them. We imagine their impres- 
sion of us, was that the Northern ladies' manners were 

NOT AS AFFECTIONATE, toward them, AS THOSE OF THEIR 

broken-hearted Mistresses. 

]STow, if one is so ignorant and narrow-minded that he 
decides upon another by the color of his skin, and loves 
him accordingly, let him once fairly own it, to himself. 
The admission will do him good. He could not have 
associated with some of the fathers of the Christian 
Church, its ablest divines, with Euclid, etc., etc., because, 
forsooth, they were Colored. 

A really intelligent, large-minded man judges of 
character, much by the expression of countenance, and 
here, will you compare the Colored, man, with the White. 
"Walk Broadway, or "Washington, or Chestnut street, and 
once have your mind upon the expression of countenance 
of the persons you meet, and see how you are affected at 
the contrast of Colored with White. Ah, we are coming 
upon better times, when better tests of excellence will be 

* Sturge and Harvey's " West Indies." 

8 



170 SLAVERY IN SOUTH CAROLINA AND THE EX-SLAVES. 

used, and required. England is reaching it, for though 
the most barbarous laws respecting the Colored, in this 
land, were passed under her government, perhaps in her 
parliament, in 1705, she now glories in honoring the 
African. Yes, she often does it, just to show her 
superiority to us, in cultivation, and large-mindedness 
and just sentiments. As an instance of this, the truly. 
Royal Victoria, among the very select number of guests 
at the nuptials of her daughter, not comprising a score, 
beside the royal family, had one full African lady. 

It is well known that the English love to bring the 
Colored in company with Americans into their houses, as 
guests. At least some credible travellers so assert. 

But it is well known that just in proportion to the low- 
ness and vulgarity of a writer, is he prepared to spew 
forth his low prejudices against color, and vice versa. 
Investigate this, we pray you, reader. Observe the 

MORAL STANDING OF THOSE WHO LOVE, AND THOSE WHO HATE, 

the Colored man. That, is all we ask. "We have editors, 
who equal the lowest slavedealer, who ever cracked a whip, 
both in prejudice, and low cunning, and, we presume, in 
other respects, their real characters are precisely similar, 
and they would, doubtless, hold with them, the very 
sweetest converse, and mutual communion of black souls. 
These writers have merely mistaken, in the seat in 
which they sit ; their meanness is the same, precisely. 
Should you, or I, stay in that climate too long, and 
permit the Sun to look upon us too freely, these noble, 
honorable, men [?] would think the slave-gang, slave-ship, 
or rice-swamp, exactly appropriate to us. 

But, seriously, will you, candid, noble minded reader, 
take one walk, not for dollars, or new bonnets, but to 
watch the expression of countenances, and decide for 
yourself where the superiority, ae a whole, lies ? 



WRITERS OF SAME QUALITIES AS SELLERS OF BABIES. 171 

We do not wrong, nor prejudge, these writers. "We 
leave it to the intelligent reader, whether it is not the 
same qualities, which would have made them good 
drivers, etc., of women, good sellers of babies, that pre- 
pare them to drive on the community toward bestiality, 
by administering most adroitly to the lowest of prejudices, 
passions, instincts, thus acquiring a most loathsome 
popularity, having even deacons, and class leaders, in 
tow. But one v thing is sure, no man, who loves the 

HUMAN FAMILY, CAN ENDURE THEIR WRITINGS. This popu- 
larity may put money in their purse, and momentary 
power into their hands, but will leave stench enough 
around their sepulchres to nauseate the centuries coming, 
yea, to sicken every really noble, intelligent man, that 
shall arise, nntil this polluted earth is purified by fire, 
and the new heavens and new earth, wherein dwelleth 
righteousness, shall come. 

But, how sick, is the soul, at seeing that no writer, no ! 
not the bravest, best, realizes what slavery actually is, 
what the Negro is. Scores of best writers should have 
seen all, at Port Royal under the first smile of liberty 
there, and returning with glowing hearts and words, 
moved mightily the. masses. Surely, then government had 
acted to the saving national honor, and pnrity, and the 
precious lives of tens of thousands of noble soldiers. 
Surely, this curse, slavery, had been lifted, instead of 
settling down more sternly, plunging us into deeper 
oppression. Surely, when Fort Donelson was taken, poor 
patriotic Negroes had not been delivered over to torture 
from Masters. Surely the rebels had not been invigorated, 
by our weak, cringing measures. Surely the nation had 
not settled down in warfare to the barbarity of the 
rebels. -When the Lord maketh requisition for blood, 
he forgetteth not the cry of the humble. 



CHAPTER XXXVI. 

THE SOUTHERNER. 

Oh, how unsufferable is the weight 
Of sin ; how miserable is their state, 
The silence of whose secret sin conceals 
The smart ; till justice to revenge appeals. 

Quakles. 

It will not be denied that the Southerner is brave, gene- 
rous, hospitable, warm-hearted. He seems formed to be 
the noble, honorable gentleman, frank, and faithful to a 
friend. There is but one thing that spoils him, one thing 
that gives too tight a coat, and eminence upon a tree with 
an uncomfortable cravat, to his hospitality ; that is, pro- 
vided, his visitor is manly and out-spoken. There is but one 
thing that arrays him in antagonism to the philanthropic 
world, one thing that sets his hand against every man's 
hand, and thus, transforms his brother into an enemy. 
There is but one thing that makes him a traitor, a presump- 
tive, heir of perdition. That is slavery. How sad, even if 
he become happy, and rich, and honorable, were it to pay 
snch a price for it. But when the contrary is the effect, 
how intolerable. How sad at death, to leave an appella- 
tion to his name, that shocks the world, as does the word 
slaveholder. 

The Southerner too, is certainly better, than the sys- 
tem, under which he lives. He does not, as a general 
thing, become such a swine in sensuality — we beg pardon 
of the swine — as his opportunities allow. lie restrains 
himself more than Job did, because he has so much more 

172 



TI1E SOITTUERNER AND PAUL — VIRGINIA EXPORTS. 173 

within him to restrain. lie makes more resolutions to be 
kind, amiable, and good, than St. Paul himself did. His 

is a life-long light against himself, his home, his country, his 
slaves, the world, and he lies down at last, the most weary 
and soul-sick of mortals, to die. And what does he gain? 
He gains the mean glory of tyrannizing over others by 
the mere paying of dollars, a thing in which lie can be 
equalled by the most base and contemptible of men. lie 
gains less money than if investing none in Negroes, he 
hired them honestly, and sold no babies. "We know 
whereof we affirm. We know that Virginia exports 
$12,000,000 in babies, or slaves per year. Still, is not 
Virginia the poorest of States, considering her age and 
advantages ? Then, think of the intolerable meanness, of 
living upon such profits, of having babies sold to buy 
your bread and butter, and tobacco and whiskey, with- 
out which stimuli, the thing could not be done. He 
gains the privilege of locking and barring, and bolting, 
and arming, and terror, and sleepless nights. He gains 
domestic anguish, and heart contempt, in life and after 
death. He gains strife with the whole world, in which, 
it is sure to have the last word. He gains certain con- 
demnation in the millennium. He gains the companion- 
ship of the very meanest men of the North, men whom 
without slavery, he would scorn. He gains sighs, around 
his habitation and grave, which sadly say, " he's in per- 
dition." He gains all the imprecations of all, who in 
agony, and death, have called for vengeance upon oppres- 
sors. He gains disquiet, terror, death of soul. Yea, be- 
fore that dire event he gains the knowledge and consci- 
ousness that he is actually brutalized. How does that 
graduate of Yale College feel in his lucid moments about 
dropping the hot pitch from burning pine-knots into the 
quivering flesh of poor helpless dependents, to say the 



174: SLAVERY IN" SOUTH CAROLINA AND THE EX-SLAVES. 

least, merely because they are sick and cannot work. "We 
have his name, but we will not stain it, hoping others 
may yet honor it. 

How does that man, his companion, feel, who being 
afraid to ride about without a body guard of two Negroes, 
yet has them strip the lone stranger, the travelling Co- 
lored man, and flog him unmercifully, merely for hap- 
pening — mayhap in weighing his internal sorrows — to 
forget to bow low enough, in passing him. This is a fact. 
He has such stripped, tied to a tree, and whipt severely, 
merely for not being obsequious enough though he bowed 
most respectfully. And the laws allow him to kill him* 
with impunity, provided he makes the least resistance. 
But the Southerner gains poverty eventually in himself 
or children, unless he have sense enough just at the right 
moment to sell and get into a free State, which is some- 
times, but rarely, the case. 

Finally he gains an early death. "We were credibly 
informed, over and over, that few slaveholders live till 
past middle life. All its ripe and holy decline, and long, 
beautiful and quiet evening, they lose. 

This known fact, death the gain of stn, is attributed 
by good judges to worry, excitement, but mostly to dissi- 
pation. 

But, suppose he gives it up ? He gains what words 
cannot express, of peace, quiet, conscious honesty, accre- 
dited honesty, the hearty approbation of the good, frater- 
nity, with all men, except a few slavedealers, and petty 
despots, and their avaricious, or contemptible, abettors. 
He gains a name, of which his descendants will not be 
ashamed, in the millennium, or in heaven. He gains 
honor, comfort, good conscience, union with the good of 
earth, and, the heart being pure, heaven. Now let none 
* Goodell's "American Slave Code." 



ASHAMED TO OWN SLAVEHOLDER ANCESTORS. 175 

say the idea of descendants being asliamed of ancestors 
being slaveholders, is a forced idea. They are so now, in 
the North, in England, Prussia, Russia, yes, even in 
France, and in all the Orient. "We have seen persons of 
wealth, standing, and pro-slavery, also, in this city, evade, 
in every way, owning the fact that their ancestors were 
slaveholders, within one week, and must not this inevit- 
ably increase, as righteousness shall fill the earth ? More- 
over, wealth, gotten by slavery, it seems impossible to 
] 10 ]d — go let it be given, while so doing will bring honor, 
not dishonor. For " wealth gotten by deceit, is soon 
wasted." Children are censured for not holding that, 
which God hath cursed, " both in the basket and in the 
field." 



CHAPTEK xxxyn. 

INNER AJSTD OUTER LIFE. 

Our real life in Christ concealed 
Deep in the Father's bosom lies. 

The distinction between the outer and inner life, is 
very, very, obvious here. 

The heavy hoe is in the hand of the poor, failing, 
"body — the hand of the soul is upon the crown of life. 
The throe of anguish quivers through the frame — the 
glow of irrepressible love to God and the Lamb thrills 
through the soul ! 

They say, " Oh, Missus, I'se worked in de fiel' till I'se 
so hot inside !" or, " till all burn up inside ;" or " till 
heart fall all clown inside t" 

But it is evident that these pangs do not touch their 
"real life, in Christ concealed." They glide quickly 
into talk of Jesus, as naturally indeed as the face of the 
suffering babe turns to its mother's bosom. If their 
Master is alluded to, a shade of remembrance of how he 
despised them, passes over their countenance, for that is 
still, and ever, the most vivid earthly picture before their 
minds. Then, with heavenly expression, they almost 
invariably say, " Oh ! Missus, he was a hard Massah ; a 
hard Massah ! work from befo' light, leave here when 
stars shining; work till can't hardly see to get home, 
then wliipt so awful, if you not done task. Hands 
stretch 'bove you' head so — raising the poor hands— 

ITS 



CHRISTIAN ENDURANCE — INDIGNATION. 177 

whipt so awful, ebry one 'at not done task, whipt thirty 
or forty on dis place ebery evening, and couldn't do no 
mo', no mo' ! Lie down while corn cook, fall 'sleep on 
dis flo' — hominy all burn up. Grind 'fo' light and 
make mo', or, try borrow. Sometimes couldn't lend — 
darsn't. Go widout till night, den if you couldn't do 
task, whipt 'gain." 

Oh that we could give the plaintive, tremulous, voice, 
and the manner with wdiich this was said. But, as we 
commenced to say, the burden of talk among the pious 
ones " 'bout Massah," is, " don't wish him any ebil. 
Hope he won't want for not'ing." At this exhibition of 
Christian endurance and forgiveness, our indignation 
glowing through all former recital of wrongs endured, 
finds vent in tears of approbation, and praise to the grace 
given. But not observing our emotion, as much as one 
not acquainted with the human heart under the constant 
pressure of great griefs would suppose — for they have 
learned not to place too much reliance upon the moods of 
the Whites — quietly, but without the least disrespect, they 
go on, " Wish Massah may repent. Oh, I pray, I pray 
he will be saved ! He may hab forgibness ; I pray God 
for it !" 

" Yojli would like to see him ?" 

" Oh, Missus, neber, no mo', neber in dis w r orl' ! "We 
pray he neber come back no mo' for 'buse we; neber hab 
dominion ober we, no mo', no mo' ! But not wish him 
any ebil. Only come back no mo'. Want to die in 
peace, in peace ! ou' Missus ! an' no peace for Nigger 
where Massah is, he hate us so ; he call you ' black cuss !' 
' black Nigger !' say ' he sell you, he whip you pieces, 
he kill you !' " 

" But he would not dare kill you." 

" Laws, Missus, you don't know Massah." 

8* 



178 SLAVERY IN SOUTH CAROLINA AND THE EX-SLAVES. 

" But men on other plantations would interfere." 
" Oil ! Missus, dey doesn't know ! If Massah shoot 
Nigger, dey don't know, don't care for black Nigger, , 
don't interfere. Laws, Missus, dem people in Beaufort 
all relations ; dey don't care for Nigger. Dey aint goin' 
to make one 'oder mad for we !" 

i It is as evident as the light of day, that Colored men 
in this region thought " Massah " had authority over life. 
It leaks out in scores of ways, in their conversation. 
There doubtless were exceptions both in persons and 
plantations. But it is well known that legally, any, any 
Master is in effect ever safe in taking life.* But suppose 
a Master was kind, he must have an overseer, and a 
driver. Suppose a Negro is shot, is the whole work of 
the plantation to stop until the Master can go away into 
the world — for we seem out of it here — to get another 
overseer ; or cannot the overseer make his own represen- 
tation ? Could it be presumed that such a man would 
not lie ? To know how isolated most plantations are, one 
must be here, and then he will readily see, that the most 
awful deeds could be easily covered. Hedges are so 
high, and thick, that you ride miles without a glimpse 
of plantations, except through gateways. Moreover, all 
are guilty, more or less, if there is any reliance to be put 
in human testimony. 

But the suffering, the agont ! is transient, the joy, 
eternal. The presence of the one, is just as real as 
the other, to their minds. Hence their answers almost 
invariably convey an unintentional reproof. They see 
the Invisible, so clearly, that light must shine through 
all their answers. Could our Congressmen see, and hear 
many of them talk, how differently would they regard 
them. How would they see that God hath, indeed, 
* GoodelFs " American Slave Code." 



ARDENT FEELING FOB SOLDIERS. 179 

arisen for their help, and that in dealing with them, they 
are dealing with Him ; for w inasmuch as ye hare done 
it unto one of the least of these, ye have done it unto 
me," he solemnly declares, and the opposite. 

"When spoken to respecting their freedom, they say : 
" On' trust is in Jesus," in a way to make one weep, 
common as that saying is. How wonderfully is he with 
them — inspiring the deepest gratitude for the least 
kind word, or even look, and a gratitude increasing 
daily. 

They are little moved by anything that occurs around 
them, excepting when " ou' sojers killed, dat come to 
fight for we." Then they say, " my poor heart 'most 
broke for dem dea' sojers, and deir moders. Don't you 
think, Missus, dey will be saved, dyin' in dis holy war, 
fightin' for poo' we, even if dey not members ?" 

" God is merciful," we say. " Oh, pray for the poor 
wounded, not Christians, that they may this moment 
seek and find the Savior." 

" Oh, I does, Missus, ebry minute, ebry minute," and 
some of them have spent the whole night in prayer for 
the North. Going unexpectedly to the quarters of our 
help one evening, we heard them, in the garret, in united 
prayer, though they had been in at worship with us. 
One said : " Oh, Lord, hab mercy on ole Massahs. Oh, 
Lord, dey are at defiance wid God and man. Oh, 
shake dem ober de brink ob hell, but neber let um 
drop 1" 



CHAPTEK XXXYIH. 

THE TRUE DEBASEMENT. 

The Colored people do not incline to magnify their 
sufferings, even were that possible ; nor yet their patience, 
in a self-righteous, or self-flattering manner. But rather in 
genuine humility and love, they magnify every kindness 
ever received, even the least, especially from " Massah," 
from whom it ever seems a perfect miracle ; and it is 
spoken of in their first remarks to you, as a wonder of 
goodness. 

Said such a woman, light-skinned, gentle and amiable 
evidently, whom we overtook, with a basket of wood 
upon her head, in reply to a remark from us — 

" My Massah oncommon good. He neber 'quire me to 
do anyting but wash and iron; when dat done ebery 
week, time my own." 

" How many children have you ?" 

" I got twelve chil'en, Missus." 

" You must have felt awfully to have them all slaves." 

" Yes, but den Massah bery kind. He neber whip me, 
neber." 

This fact, spoken of as such a marvel — her apathy 
respecting her children, and her evidently superior love 
for her Master, were more startling and heart-rending 
than the terrible tales of punishment with which most 
abound. " Can a mother forget her sucking child," said 
we inwardly, " that she should not have compassion upon 
the son of her womb ?" Yes, slavery, and love, in poor 

180 



LOVE IN SLAVE WOMAN'S HEART FOR BASE MASTER. 181 



woman's heart, for an un womanizing Master^ can cause 
her to do even that. 

" Her children are her Master's," is a common, un- 
blushing remark. Yes, even made, at times, with apparent 
respect, on account of her honors, and surroundings. Ala?, 
poor victims of the basest passions, of the lowest of men! 
sure to end in being victims to his hate, then to his foul 
calumnies traducing her in every way, for a debasement 
low as himself! and which he forcibly produced. Is there, 
can there be, another such meanness out of perdition? 
Besides, a man cannot drive one woman afield, and re- 
spect another deeply and truly. If one can override the 
laws of his State, and country, he cannot fully ignore the 
immutable laws of God, written upon his own soul. 
Therefore to be in heart an actual and successful .slave- 
holder, he must sink in soul, to the level of those, whom 
he so debases. Nor can he prevent this result, until he 
can dethrone God, and change eternal right to wrong. It 
is, doubtless, this sense of debasement, in spite of all argu- 
ments, pleas, theories to the contrary, that renders so 
many Masters and Mistresses so miserable, so excitable 
in regard to slavery, and so revengeful. So hard doth 
our holy, benevolent God make it, for a mortal to drive 
him awav, and to take hold on death. All the slave- 
holder's power "is intensified by the influence of religion 
upon the poor slaves, who are taught by slavery apos- 
tles, that their soul's salvation depends upon obedience to 
their Masters, acting so irresponsibly in these dark places. 
So, obliged to obey implicitly, and by deceit and sin, to 
adapt themselves to unrestrained natures of so many 
contradictions, they become adepts in duplicity. But the 
warmest love is often felt for the base Master by the poor 
injured woman, ever ending, of course, in sure heart- 
breaking, and the foulest slander from him. Of course he. 



182 SLAVERY IN SOUTH CAROLINA AND THE EX-SLAVES. 

is far more agreeable to her than the black man, who 
shares his honors, and whom this poor woman calls hus- 
band; but whom he kicks and cuffs around with un- 
wonted satisfaction, even for him, because of that very 
fact. The children of this woman are often pets, until, 
by showing such decided resemblance to her Master, as 
to provoke to the utmost, persecution, from his family, they 
lead to his exposure, and their sale. 

From such circumstances, it seems the universal con- 
clusion of this keen, discerning race, that little connubial 
happiness existed among their oppressors. In short, it is 
as evident that those oppressors felt that they were rest- 
ing under a curse, as that they lived. They would not 
see it, or confess it, but could not escape its presence, or 
its baneful blight. 

Said one of these poor women, " If I didn't know Jesus 
Christ, I go crazy all dese years ! If he is not in our 
help, it is not'ing. Jesus is my trust. He keep heart 
right. If I do right, Jesus take me. When he send for 
me, if I can on'y meet him, I satisfied. Distress and hard 
labor drive me to Christ. So heart-broken tired, heart all 
fall down inside ! I go hide me in de grave-yard" — with 
a shudder — " to rest ; hide 'mong de dead. No woman 
could carry de hoe as I could, when dis Massah buy 
me. He broke me down wid work in fiel' ebery day till 
baby born. Trust I hab no mo'. link hab no mo'. Aint 
'bliged now ; young women's '«bliged." But the debase- 
ment, SO FAR AS OWNERS ARE CONCERNED, is too horrid 

to dwell upon. 

" If dey praise God, if dey had one speck ob Jesus, 
dey would do we better. Sell baby ! make woman work 
in de fiel' till last minute ; dat girl born in de fiel', bring 
home on cart, not die, God keep um ! God good ! God 
help ! O 'ts past awful. My two chil'n dead. Glad ! 



OBERSEERS GIRLS MCSNT LOOK SORRY. 



1S3 



glad ! when dead, 'cause you can't speak when oberseer 
lick urn so ; can't talk, him liab own w T ay. Massah not 
hear you. Some drivers an' oberseers make girls mean 
to save lick, an' dey mus'n't eben look sorry, but glad. 
Some can bear it, some can't, so get mo' task, an' mo' 
lick. None fall dead on cotton fiel' or dis plantation } 
'nough on oder do, on dis island. Prime people on dis 
place, all works well." 

Now, reader, what do you think of the virtue of the 
Northern lady, or any lady that will say one word in 
favor of slavery, or be displeased when it is named, and 
is opposed to agitation about it ? Is she so ignorant as 
not to know all these evils ? Impossible. What then do 
you think of her actual, inner soul virtue, who can coolly 
hand over the poor Colored girl to such a fate ? Who can 
honor the perpetrator, or one of his class, as such, and 
advocate slavery, which she knows has its whole root in 
these sins, and its increase from these awful wrongs? 
And yet she would be considered amiable, virtuous, 
pious. But great allowance must be made for ignorance ; 
still, how long will that, be excusable ? 



CHAPTER XXXIX. 

HEART CHASTITY. 

Cast my heart's gold into a furnace flame, 
And if it come not thence, refined and pure, 
I'll be a bankrupt to thy hope, and heaven 
Shall shut its gates upon me. 

Mrs. Sigourney. 

The Colored women, are an enigma in one respect. 
They have many of them been victims to brutal treat- 
ment, in their most vital being, chastity. But it is im- 
possible to believe it, while conversing with them. Im- 
possible ! So all testify here. For ourself, we may be 
pardoned for saying, that we have been closely associated 
with ladies in different States, and in all the great cities, 
North, as well as in Canada. "We, too, only extol the 
great work, to which our Lord deigned to call us, when 
we say, they were among the very best ladies of all those 
places, and, we solemnly aver, and those ladies will 
rejoice to hear it, that never, have we conversed with a 
more genuinely modest set of women, than those dark 
daughters of the South. Never. As we said, they are 
a puzzle to us. Such immaculate purity as there seems 
to be in their inner soul. Now some will curl the lip in 
scorn, or laugh derisively, and say, " Ah ! what credu- 
lity ! It was all put on, the counterfeit, modest mien, of 
the magdalen." Ear from it. That mien, we can pierce 
with words, as easily as possible, when it is duty. This 
is, innately, or by grace, a part of the very being of these 

184 



PUZZLING INVESTIGATIONS — THE IMPRESS OF VIRTUE. 185 

poor -women. We had many, in our mission, ladies of 
superior abilities, long used to labor in the eities, and cer- 
tainly capable of approaching any one properly. But 
their experience accorded with our own. We could 
question a magdalen where necessary, which is, very, 
very rarely, but these Colored women never ! Never ! 
The fact is, these women have not parted with true deli- 
cacy, true virtue. That is evident, whatever they may 
have suffered. There is no great gulf between them, 
and the pure, as there ever is, with the voluntarily fallen. 
We do not explain all this, cannot, even to ourself. We 
only state facts, which all the pure, conversant with 
them, will corroborate. 

As you meet and converse, with one, and another, and 
another, of these pious, refined Negresses — for they have 
a refinement of soul you rarely see equalled — you invol- 
untarily say inwardly, "This one has never become 
familiar with vice ;" and so on, and on, until the number 
is so great, as to make it impossible that all have escaped. 
Then you are more amazed. You would ask them, you 
think you will, as you want to know and promote only 
the truth, and from the best of motives, you would get 
the most correct idea of them, and of what slavery actu- 
ally is. But you can no more ask them, how they have 
fared, than your own mother. You review if, think you 
are failing to get knowledge, that the cause, the truth, 
righteousness, demand that you get, that you may ad- 
vance appreciation, purity, and holiness. You resolve to 
do better next time. But the impassable barrier is before 
you, high, and pure, and beautiful. 

But one thing, is absolutely certain. Yice, cannot put 
on the impress of virtue, as these dear dark sisters wear 
it. Impossible. Yirtue, and vice, have each, a language 
written upon the countenance, the latter on many who 



186 SLAVERY IN SOUTH CAROLINA AND THE EX-SLAVES. 

little suspect it. But virtue, is vividly written upon 
these. How winning they are ! What an expression of 
purity, endurance, love, tenderness, patience, and, a quiet 
defiance of earth's wickednesses, and griefs, that it makes 
you weep, to see. 

Oh, ye jewels of our Lord! How doth he love you ! 
The writer had long been privileged to feel that she was 
about as dear, to our Adorable Savior, as most of those, 
with whom she worshipped, but, when she listened to 
you, in those poor huts, in their shades, in the sacred 
groves of the dead, she felt that you were nearer the 
heart of our precious Jesus, than was she. You have 
been tried to the uttermost, and not found wanting. In 
lome instances, those who would have wronged you have 
quailed before that purity, that quiet, strong, trust in 
God. In many cases, how many we know not, it has 
been given you, as a shield. In others, your fellows, have 
died martyrs to purity. 

Yet contemptible Whites, who have nothing but color 
to value themselves upon, and others in ignorance of 
actual facts, write you all down, as debased, and de- 
graded — favorite words with those beauties — and feel 
themselves elevated in the process, and the higher, still, 
the lower they can put you, when you have a Christ- 
ianity, a purity, they never dreamed of, and greater than 
aught else earth has ever yet shown us. Oh, ye jewels 
of my Lord ! most of those that despise you, despise him, 
also, our dear Divine Master. Is it not enough for a ser- 
vant, that he be as his Lord ? 

For his dear home with you, is in your soul ; and he 
gives no one power over the soul if it use its utmost 
energy, to avoid the contact, and resist the power of sin, 
and cleave to him for purity. 

The whole matter of slavery is often a great 



GTRANGE POWER OVER OTHERS — TEST AND VICTORY. 187 

trial of faith. That God permits one, to exercise such 
power over another's body. But the soul is his own, 
and cannot be stained, in fact, but by its own consent. 
If the soul actually wills it, he will cleanse it, whiter than 
snow, and keep it so, all his own, a garden, inclosed ; a 
spring, shut up ; a fountain, sealed ; all pure, all to him- 
self. 

So it evidently is with many ; still many, alas ! have 
fallen to the level of their tempters ; but never, in one 
case, did they refer to or hint at it. It is only in the 
third person, or what " they," or others, suffer of which 
they can speak, and then, it is the pious, and who con- 
fide fully in your deep heart-sympathy for them, and in 
your just appreciation of their subjection. 

Doubtless, we say, many sink to real debasement. But 
many, many ! will sooner die, than sin, and some way, 
almost miraculous, is sometimes made, for their es- 
cape. 

One poor Aunty said : " Oberseer raise me wid a pole 
high as 'at corn-house, wid clothes ober head, fo' take 
away my shame, so I be mean. He did, Missus, but" — 
clasping her thin hands above her poor head — " but Jesus 
keep me, O, bless Jesus ! lie keep me ! Bless Jesus ! 
Ebery lady ough' to praise Jesus, for me." 

No effort, or means, that all ingenuity and learning and 
talent of man, and of ages, have invented, to destroy re- 
spect for the Negro, in the North, has been wanting, up- 
on the part of slaveholders and their abettors, far meaner 
than they. For, in proportion as men despise them, are 
they content that they remain slaves, and all effort, for 
their emancipation, is paralyzed* Astonishing!! that 
their, word has so long been taken. 

So, they have made apparent docility, of poor slaves, 
to appear as eagerness, because they supposed that 



188 SLAVERY m SOUTH CAROLINA AND THE EX-SLATES. 

would nauseate, moee than any other lie. Appearances 
here, are explained, in this chapter. 

"We say our heart is breaking over their woes, and our 
government's inefficiency. It seems to be to most, in 
this nation, as nothing, that the present race should fade 
away and die under these awful evils, provided, in some 
future age, freedom may come to their descendants. 

To prove how deeply our soul is stung with their 
wrongs, and agonies, we may be pardoned for saying that 
we cannot see company since returning. It makes us 
weep, to see our ladies so tenderly cared for, so prized, so 
pampered, while their dark sisters so suffer. So the most 
beautiful sights are blighted, and actually turned into 
anguish. But this, we name, only to induce the same 
feelings in you. 

Going out, with mind intent on mercy-errands, we met 
the bright, beautiful, cherished throng upon Broadway. 
In contrast, the dark but beautiful ones we had left, were 
instantly before us, with their wrongs, toils, agonies. 
Tears gushed, and gushed, until weeping ruled the hour; 
and, that we were observed, seemed of little moment, 
amid these stern griefs. Giving up errands, we sobbed, 
and sobbed our way down to 320,* where we could do a 
work for them. But as Saturday evening approached, 
we were obliged to go to a milliner's, and, having in a 
measure become calmed, we went in — when in came the 
happy milliner-girls, and taking from their work-boxes 
bonnet after bonnet, they bestowed upon each a fond, ad- 
miring gaze, as they placed them in the store boxes. Then, 
rising, first upon one tip-toe, then, upon the other, while 
rolling up the ribbon, they peered out of the full win- 
dows, upon the passers-by, as full of life, of joy, of expec- 
tation, as any lady in the city. And these are the girls, 

* Building occupied by the Freedmau's Relief Association. 



HEART AGONY LUXURY AND TYRANNY — DAUGHTER. 189 

whoso lot is compared to our poor dark sisters, suffering 
all of toil and indignity that man can heap upon them. 
They ohserved our heart-agony, and looked as if to say, 
" Poor woman, she has lost some one, in this war," and 
tripped away. 

In the evening, we were obliged by sickness of a friend, 
to go into a most sumptuous chamber. There, is the beau- 
tiful sick daughter, so luxuriously couched, and attended, 
everything in the city, laid under tribute, for her comfort. 
Again, then we contrasted the hard lot, of our poor dark 
sisters, who, in the most weak, and agonized, states, are 
not permitted to lie down, not even upon the floor, or 
ground, " lest they get lazy," and were entirely overcome 
once more. This, is the history of one afternoon. 

This day a sweet letter came from our precious, only 
daughter, and her doating husband. They " are to hold 
a reception for their parishioners, and mother must be 
there." No ; mother cannot go, does not want to go, 
does not want to see that daughter, who has been a chief 
blessing of her life, as thousands know. No ! mother 
does not want even to see that daughter, after four 
months' separation. Her heart is so sore, that she had 
rather hide and weep, over her suffering dark sisters, and 
brethren, and her country's sins, and try to labor for 
them. Weak ! do you say ? We would be weaker than 
infancy, if thereby, we might only touch your heart, for 
when the hearts of the masses, are properly moved, the 
powers that be, must feel, and act, and work is clone. 

Sister, who reads this, you would feel so too, or more, 
could you see slavery and its dear victims, as it is, as we 
have. 

But so long, so able, so persistent, have been the efforts 
of Southern Congressmen, and all others in the interest 
of avery, that they have thrown a false coloring over 



190 SLAVERY IN SOUTH CAROLINA AND THE EX-SLAVES. 

the whole system; and Northern writers and speakers 
write and speak under the influence of that coloring, and 
while they lead you to hate slavery, they innocently lead 
you to despise the Colored ; to you, therefore, seeming as 
a great moving, mass of darkness, and impurity ; to us, 
mothers, sisters, brothers. Then there are those in our midst, 
who actually think, they have seen matters upon planta- 
tions, as they were ; when, so far from it, even the mistresses 
of those plantations, knew little, or nothing, of the dark 
deeds there committed. The Master, too, who mayhap, 
would be comparatively kind, knows what the overseer 
does, only by his own report, and he knows not what the 
driver does, only by his report. So that, when the exact 
truth is at last reached, it is Sambo or Quimbo, unre- 
strained — for, if the poor slave tells on them, they nearly 
kill him — who govern the poor victims. 

Massah, too, in the far South, was out upon a carousal, 
nearly all night, and must sleep much of the day, in nine 
cases out of ten, as we were assured, by those who knew, 
and Mistress, too, without her wine, is too dispirited, and 
with it, is too inspirited, to care for them properly. 
Beside, who but the driver can bear that tropical sun? and 
can he carry forward the work without the lash ? when 
the lash is the only propelling power ? Certainly not. 
So Sambo, or Quimbo, must have unlimited power. 
There is no escape from it, but to let everything go to 
wreck upon plantations, or have free labor. 

Yet Christians, Christians ! North, can shield those 
who coerce poor woman to every brutality, or to daily 
torture inconceivable. Oh, if they could die ! If masters 
would kill them ! But no, it is torture, torture ! torture L 
scientifically used, torture ! the one science of slavedom. 
Yet many are martyrs. They can die, but they cannot sin 
and sink to the level of their masters, overseers, or drivers. 



MARTYRS TO CHASTITY — TRUE DELICACY RETRIBUTION. 191 



We say it, before high heaven, and an outraged world of 
ladies, that the martyrs to chastity now upon earth, are 
our dark women of the South. Oh ! could, you. hear as we 
heard a dear saint of God say, " O ! Missus, dey makes 
our women mean, to save mo' task, and to save de awful 
whipping," and adding, with their plaintive, melting, 
tone, " an' 'ey mustn't show 'ey feel bad, but make um 
tink 'ey glad. O ! 'ts past awful ! past awful ! Some 
can 'dure it, some can't, so dey gets all time mo' and mo' 
task, and mo' and mo' lick. When oberseer come 'gin, 
you task all done, he say, ' not done gpod, you go way 
be lick,' hab to go." 

As she said this, too delicate to glance at our face, 
though glowing with indignation, she gazed down the 
beautiful river into the pure blue distance, as one who 
pondered, and pondered, long, and deeply, and looked 
for a great future, a great retribution ! Yet, with charac- 
teristic refinement, she soon bade us good evening, with- 
out looking up, started in the direction we were gazing, 
and our eyes never again met. We shall meet at the 
judgment, and you will be there, reader, and answer for 
your part in opposing this awful, inexpressible iniquity. 
Our saying, Lord ! Lord ! I felt so, and so, had such, and 
such, visions, and joys, will be nothing, there, if he shall 
say, " I was sick, and in prison, and ye came not unto me. 
I was a stranger, and naked, and ye clothed me not, ye 
took me not in. You did not do unto the least of these, 
as ye would that others should do unto you, so ye did it 
not to me." Now what would you have others do, were 
you in slavery ? You know ! perfectly ! and can never 
say to the Judge " I did not know." 

We say again, that in the ardent labors of a score of 
years, we have never seen their refinement of soul sur- 
passed, and are they not Christ's ? Then, do you not do to 



192 SLAVERY IN SOUTH CAROLINA AND THE EX-SLAVES. 

him, as you do to them ? Oh, could we touch the heart, 
of the Christian North, yea, even of the ladies, deeply ! 
how joyfully would we lay down our life ! Could we so 
startle, and awaken, all of the woman in every lady's 
heart, that in the closet, over the cradle, or rising in some 
sacred hour of silent night, she would raise her right hand 
to heaven, and vow in the name, and strength, of Him 
that liveth and was dead, and is alive forevermore, that 
she would leave nothing ! nothing ! ! in her power, un- 
done to dethrone this demon ! Could we do this, we 
would suffer anything. 

Oh, what can be done, to rouse the indignation of the 
virtuous, against this perpetual insult to their sex ? For 
there is virtue. There are thousands, who, rather than see 
a servant suffer what is the daily doom of poor, poor 
slave women, would interpose their own lives to protect 
them. Why, then, should the mere fact, that they are a 
few hundred miles farther away, quench this just anger ? 
And even supposing slaveholders can, by a long or short 
influence, lower one, so as to entice others, does not that 
make the sin, the debasement, a thousandfold more odious ? 
You say, " there is this sin in the North." "We answer, 
" show us a case," clearly involuntary, and if the law does 
not reach it,. the whole power of the citizens, yea, of 
Northern ladies, will. Let it be known, that servants of a 
family, are forcibly detained, and coerced to this sin, and 
the whole community would be frantic. But what, oh, 
what % can make the North feel equally for slaves ? 

Different reports, are, doubtless, one cause of indiffe- 
rence. Thousands get impressions from slaveholders, 
who will no more injure their business than rumsellers. 
Many see the Colored man through their medium, which 
misrepresents and blackens his whole character. It is 
not enough, that he is robbed of every right, and loaded 



BELTED, TO INHERIT DT80UST CAKE IN DRESS. 1P3 

with every wrong, he must also be so belied, as to in- 
herit the disgust of the world. True, there are some 
words freely, disgustingly used, as " breed." But how 
have they always heard it used ? So, do some English, use 
the word " delivered " in the same way. Yet it is no lack 
of refinement in them. Then, their dress, too, is often but 
the nether garment, and. skirt. But, by most scrupulous 
care only the poor arms are exposed, while a waist, of all 
manner of mendings, saves the form, effectually. Inva- 
riably these women assert that they have no gown ; some- 
times they show you a lawn, or something equally ten- 
der, which has been given them by " the Association," 
and which they are " 'bliged to save fo' Sunday." 

Further, not a word, or indication of low conversation, 
can be drawn, or beguiled out of them. Not a low sen- 
suous laugh is known ! Never ! It is as evident, in every 
way, that their converse in little circles is chaste, as that 
the sun shines, and it is only the intensity of their suffer- 
ings, that ever leads one to speak the least plainly to 
Missus. 



9 



CHAPTEK XL. 

NOETHEKN CHIVALKY. 

For 'tis a sight that angel ones above 

May stoop to gaze on, from the bowers of bliss ; 

When innocence upon the breast of love, 

Is cradled in a sinful world like this. 

Mrs. Welby. 

What opinion can Northern pro-slavery men have of 
Southern ladies ? Can they think tlieni delicate, high- 
principled, virtuous ? or do they think they nestle, with 
all possible satisfaction, in the foul nest of slavery ? Are 
their own tastes, or associations, such, as that they think 
ladies, after all, care little for virtue ? Or, do they pre- 
tend to doubt the vitiating nature of slavery ? Do they 
presume, that universal testimony, even that of slave- 
holders themselves, is untrue, and that the mass, there, 
live chastely % Such ignorance cannot be supposed, for 
an instant. Then, there can be but one other conclusion, 
or rather two: first, that they believe the Southern 
ladies care nothing for it, or, in other words, are not vir- 
tuous ; or, second, that they themselves care not what 
those ladies suffer. But the true fact is, that those well 
informed and rRO-SLAYEKY as a class, care little for any 
one, or anything, beyond certain plans, interests, pride 
of success, fleeting influence, or mean dollars, of their own. 
For, they know, that there are thousands of homes made 
utterly wretched, and desolate, by the awful curse, sla- 
very. Perhaps they would say, " These ladies ought not 
to be made wretched by it." That shows the standard of 

194 



OPINIONS OF THE NORTH OF SOUTHERN LADIES. 105 

their own virtue, and extends most dubious compliments 
to their Companions, and associates. In short they show 
the man. Bat the anti-slavery part of the North, with 
ourself, have a far better opinion of the Southern ladies. 
We believe they are, as a whole, genuinely refined, truly 
virtuous, and, of course, made as unhappy by vice, as any 
living. 

To the chivalrous, of the North, we appeal in their be- 
half! Is there not a nobility, a manliness, a Christianity, 
in the North, that can, and will help them ? that will ex- 
tend a strong hand, and now, while it has the power, 
will pluck slavery away 

True, they would not own, that they suffer awfully, from 
its ruinous effects upon fathers, brothers, sons, husbands. 
"What lady would 3 willingly ? But is a wound concealed, a 
wound too deep for words, the less dangerous, or deadly, 
in its blight ? Is there less probability of its terminating 
fatally ? Such a wound must be quickly healed or so 
terminate. So it often does. You cannot converse with 
them, or their reliable servants, without seeing it. Yea 
more, you cannot use common sense even a very little, 
without seeing it, provided you believe, universal testi- 
mony, respecting the morals of most men there. 

Now, what were it to be killed, instantly, to being tor- 
tured to the very extreme of endurance, daily, and 
hourly, for long weary years after years ; to pray and 
pray for death, and yet it never come ? 

This is no fancy, no coloring, no attempt to make out 
a case against slaveholders : we have not words to paint 
up to the life. We speak from facts, and dare not hope, 
to make the impression they demand. Could we do 
that, we might m£>ve some, yes, even Congressmen, to 
raise the right hand, and solemnly vow that slavery 
should be no more, by their consent. 



196 SLAVERY IN SOUTH CAKOLrNA AND THE EX-SLAVES. 

But do any doubt that the most utter debasement pre- 
vails, in slavedom ? And can it exist in a family, with- 
out the chaste part, being wretched ? Can all, all ! be 
concealed from that pure, virtuous wife ? Can it be con- 
cealed from those indulged, and proud daughters ? over 
all whose beauty, and happiness, is coming a dire blight? 
Can it escape the searching glance of that pure little girl, 
of ten, or twelve? who is just opening her sad eyes to the 
knowledge, of what is in the world, of what pa is ? Oh, 
have you the feelings of a man, and will you not seize 
that insane father, and pluck the instrument of torture, 
— slavery, from his furious grasp? Would you not pluck 
the power of being intemperate from your own brother? 
and is not slavery a vice, equally benumbing, and blind- 
ing ? That man were noble, were a husband, a father, 
without the .vice of " oppression, which maketh a wise 
man mad." Wre6t slavery from him, and he will soon 
be reasonable. He will " return, to bless his household." 
lie will bless you in heaven 1 

In our mission-house at Beaufort, was a poor maniac, 
once lovely, and cherished, the wife of a rebel well known 
there, made mad by oppression, by domestic tyranny. 
It was heart-rending to hear her dwell flightily upon the 
sweetness of the first few months of her married life, of 
her untiring, determined, efforts to win and woo back, 
that youthful husband. But the tide was too strong, 
though he often and bravely resisted it, and a mean pride, 
one of the progeny of slavery, at last came in, and drove 
away all restraint, and her reason with it. lie often, and 
often, had whipped her, as she said, most severely, for 
being a woman. But, it was all forgiven, all borne, with 
scarcely a complaint, for the intense love, she bore him. 
She, in all these dark hours, said it was wine that mocked 
him, maddened him. Every eifort to make home attrac- 



THE MANIAC — THE FATHER'S FINE 60N — A KEFUGE. 197 

tive was intensified, an hundred fold, if possible, and at 
intervals, she had hope. But every facility for debase- 
ment, was in his presence continually. 

Overpowered, captive to sin, and pride, he drove her 
from the house, and revelled, to his heart's content. It 
was slavery, in its influence upon him, his relatives, his 
associates, that did all this. It was slavery's facilities 
for all sin, that ruined him. And he is a type of a class 
of men, a large class, take the whole South, together. 
True, there are most noble exceptions, but will you 
throw, or rather, leave, your countrymen in such a cur- 
rent, because 6ome can breast it ? But, a man must have 
something to do, and he will, and if it be not good, must 
be evil. Father, would you put your fine young son, 
under the influence of slavery ? for the best plantation of 
the South? yea, for him to inherit, with slavery's blights, 
the whole South ? Not, if you deserve the sacred name 
of father. 

See, the poor broken, bleeding-hearted wife, and 
mother, obliged to see her rival in a skvc, and that for 
long, long, weary years. See her, a servant to that slave, 
for her children's sake, and all, because her husband is 
a brute. Did not the grave open for many, many, such, 
this land would be filled with lunatics. To pray for 
death, is most common, fob ladies at the South. We 
were shocked to find it so common. Ah ! there is a 
virtue even there, in womanhood, in spite of all the mists 
of ignorance, prejudice, and customs, of slavedom, that 
makes the cold grave a sweet refuge from its foulness. 
Ignorance and prejudice, we say, for those Southern 
ladies who do not travel North, know as little of what its 
people actually are, as of the inhabitants of the moon. 
Did they, and were they possessed, of the proper spirit, 
they would take that infant son, and seek a refuge in 



> 



198 SLAVERY IN SOUTH CAROLINA ANT) THE EX-SLAVES. 

some Northern farmer's pure home, and there, toiling, if 
need be, they would bring him up to honor, purity, 
eternal life, instead of seeing him, become a drivelling, 
besotted brute. 

"What good motner, did she actually know all, delicate, 
unused to toil as she may be, would not do it, to save his 
body from ruin by slavery, and his soul from eternal 
death ? 

There are thousands who would break away, but igno- 
rance enchains them. No free pulpit, have they, or pas- 
tor. No press, or mail, is free. NoJdnd, able, hand is 
outstretched, that is permitted to reach them. Do you 
say, " Would they leave their husbands ?" Those hus- 
bands have left them, in all that is sacred. Are we too 
severe? Read the following: "We Southern ladies 

ARE CALLED WIVES, BUT WE ARE ONLY MISTRESSES OF 

seraglios," said a sister of President Madison to the Rev. 
George Bourne, then a Presbyterian minister in Virginia.* 
Now, one who would prefer that post, to being an assist- 
ant in a Northern farmer's family, is not virtuous — that 

IS EVIDENT. 

Temptation comes over one, sometimes, that men, 
voters, Congressmen, think that there is actually no such 
thing as virtue, deep, real virtue, and chastity, and of ne- 
cessity where it is outraged, no heart-breaking, in woman. 
There are those who would lead them to feel ' so, espe- 
cially, 'tis said, at Washington. But those men know, 
that yonder among their precious babes, is one, who if 
they should become vicious, would die. She might not 
reproach, she might not weep, as mortal knew, but that 
vile worm, would cut the stem of life, and the sweet 
grave would soon close over her. Why ? Because she has 
true virtue of soul. The world, yea, hundreds of worlds, 

* Goedcll's " American Slave Code." 



VIRTUE SELLING AT THE FOUNT OF LIFE — CHIVALRY. 199 

would not compensate her heart, for that dear husband's 
virtue. All this, they know, and praise their Creator for. 
Then, why cannot they believe, and feel, too, that there 
are just such ladies at the South, and, who see their 
adored husbands, victims to slavery's temptations, whose 
poor hearts are made to stand still, with agony, then flut- 
ter as if to escape, day after day, night after night, until 
they stand still forever ? Now, we have not a word to 
say to those whose unfortunate surroundings have con- 
vinced them, that virtue is a shanv But to those who 
believe it sits at the fount of life, in chaste woman, and 
holds its key, we ask, " What will you do for our sisters' 
agonies?" Rend ! oh, rend away! the cause of them, and 
when their tyrants come to their right minds, and to 
see, and feel, correctly, they will bless you. 

True, those women would sooner die than own that 
they believe their husbands vicious. But, does not this 
depth of concealed torture, appeal to your chivalrous aid 
all the more ? 

Some, we know, become devilish, pursuing the poor 
helpless, tempter, and dire victim of their lords, with 
every possible cruelty. Some few, become stoical, reck- 
less of everything, yea, even of virtue itself in those 
around them. Is not that more awful than death ? More 
to be dreaded than any other possible result ? More to 
be opposed, by your manly efforts ? Will you not rise in 
your might, manhood, chivalry, religion, and say, " This 
shall not be 2" And for how short a time God shall give 
you the power, so to say, no mortal knoweth. 

But, you ask, " Would you have us thrust the power 
of government between those wives, and their husbands, 
and to protect the one from the other?" Certainly. Pre- 
cisely as you would, and do, thrust your power between, 
to shield wives in this city from the vice of intemperance 



200 SLAVERY IN SOUTH CAROLINA AND THE EX-SLAVES. 

iii I heir lords. Precisely so. For what exists government, 
if not to protect the- weak ? And where is there a case of 
equal clearness, urgency, and appeal ? 

Now, it must be, that Congress labors under one of 
three delusions — 1st. That all testimony respecting 
the viscious lives of most Southerners, or rather slave- 
holders, is false ; or, 2d. That there is not in the 
hearts of Southern women the virtue to suffer excru- 
ciatingly from it, even to heart-breaking, and death ; or, 
3d. That they are indifferent to what they suffer, 
since they do not wrest the maddening cause away, when 
they have the full power and right to do so. One of 
these conclusions, is inevitable. 

One of these things is true of the present Congress. 
Which is it? Or, do they claim to be adhering to a line 
of policy ? Lines of policy, alas ! have guided our Ship of 
State to where it now is. The only true policy is right- 
eousness. True, it was policy, self-preservation, that led 
England to emancipate. Yet it was an enlightened, 
clear-eyed, Christian policy. She could not have done 
it without the aid of holy, philanthropic men. No man, 
or nation, can take a self-preserving course, merely 
because it is best. He must also have moral power 
to do it. That power is now offered Congress, and its 
members individually know, that they cannot look the 
final j udgment in the face ! and deny it, quibble as they 
may. It is a military necessity, and any Congress of able 
generals would declare it such, and it would doubtless 
be used as such, but for the same cringing to slavery that 
has nearly ruined us. 

Whether this power will be offered, or available soon 
again, no mortal can know. It would have been of little 
use for Pharaoh to have proclaimed emancipation at the 
bottom of the lied Sea. So, this may be the only 



England's difficultttes in emancipating. 201 

moment, the only lucid interval, in which all must be 
done. 

How did difficulties seem to multiply, in the way 
of England's emancipating, until the very moment that 
she passed the act. Then, how soon light dawned, and 
they all rolled away. Satan always struggles, rends, in 
being cast out. But the struggling, rending, scares timid 
operators, and all the promised benefits are lost, and he 
remains, to torment the victim at his leisure. 

Not content with debasing, by every power they can 
command, the poor dark victims, they then malign them 

BY EVERY LIE THAT CAN BE INVENTED. How mean ! HoW 

utterly contemptible ! But, not only so ; they make their 
wife, the mother of their children ! equally odious, by re- 
presenting that she does not care ; and this they reiterate 
and reiterate in so many sly and accidental ways that the 
foul lie comes to seem as truth, even to themselves ; and 
their meaner Northern advocate wipes his mouth, and says, 
" Oh, those Southern women do not care !" Poor victims 
to every insult that can be invented, and then not even 
left alone to suffer, but must entertain company of the 
very same grade, of their tyrant husbands, to beguile 
time and keep away reflection. They must, too, know, 
and that often, that the Northern youth is taking his first 
lessons in crime under their roof. Yet they are power- 
less, and pride, compels them to conceal all. 

How can those Congressmen return to their pure, 
quiet homes, and leave the bondage and the bane resting 
upon other ladies just as pure, upon other babes born 
with equal claims ? but who, under slavery, have not a 
right, not one, unimpaired. No ! not even the right to 
their parents. Father is a beast. Mother is a withered 
fading flower, lovely, in the withering, but powerless, for 
the needs of the poor child. Home is a slave-driving peat 

9* 



202 SLAVERY IN SOUTIT CAROLINA AND THE EX-SLAYES. 

School, the comfort, joy, honor, of the oppressed North- 
ern child, exists not. Society, of any variety, is out of 
the question. What can the poor child do, but find 
what pleasure, in sensual and idle pursuits, he may ? and, 
with unlimited power over all the Colored, how certain 
is his ruin. But is there not a Chivalry in the North, 
that will arise in its might, and manliness, and say, 
" This shall not be ! Women South shall not be so 
oppressed V 

True, there are those, who come only to look at the 
fancied profits, and forget all other considerations. But 
them we call not women, though they stand in her 
sacred place. Real womanhood would say, " Let us have 
poverty, if need be, with purity." And, this, even if all 
these theories of money-making were correct, which how- 
ever are not. Will God permit a people to enrich them- 
selves, by selling innocent children ? See Virginia, with 
her yearly export of $12,000,000 in fathers, mothers, and 
babies. How utterly blasted with poverty. How totally 
behind all the free States around her, that have nothing 
of her age, and natural advantages. Yet, when, ever, 
existed a more energetically-proud and competent people, 
a people better prepared to make slavery profitable at 
every sacrifice, if it could be made so ? So that all argu- 
ment in favor of slavery from pecuniary advantage, falls 
totally and forever. 

But the foulest slander upon the ladies, is, that thky 
care not eor all this, impurity. And to show the 
most utter meanness of enslavers, this slander comes from 
their own husbands, who have sunk so incredibly low, 
that they can glory in saying, " My wife doesn't 
care." " She's willing enough." Incredible ! that such 
baseness can exist. It is never seen, out of slavedom. 
But even the swearing, gutter-drunkard, is at once 



' MEAN SLANDER UPON WIVES — ORDER OF GOD. 203 

erect in indignation at the least slur cast upon bis wife's 
virtue. 

We would not defile our pen, or page, with repelling 
this foul slander, were it not for this one fact ; and, that 
by the persistent misrepresentation of their husbands, the 
belief is actually caused in the North, that the wives and 
mothers of the South care little or nothing, for all this 
utter debasement. And in all this, their false apostles help 
on, and reap its rewards. 

Now, it is in the power of Congress to wrest away with 
one noble act, the whole cause. It is ! do we say ? It 
was. Perhaps the power is even now departing. It 
will depart, if not used. Tuis is the inflexible order 
of God, in all his moral realm. 

The time was, when all those slaveholders could see, 
and hate slavery. They can no more do either now 
than the inebriate can hate his cups. 

" But," one says, " have you not licentiousness in 
the North ?" Alas ! we have, but not under our care ! 
Not, in our houses ! The Northern lady is not involved 
in the guilt, knows it not, usually, has not to see it, 
hourly, to feed, clothe, nurse, in sickness, the poor, hated, 
but most deeply wronged victim ; feeling awfully, that 
she ought not to suffer it, ought to leave the roof, if 
no other protest "will answer. But with eyes blinded, 
powers enfeebled, energies withered, she remains, "keeper 
of a seraglio," as the poor sister of President Madison 
said, "we Southern women are." But what moments 
of agony must a woman undergo, before she can make 
this charge in company, yea, this admission, to herself. 
"What one refinement of cruelty, is wanting to the horrid 
system, of slavery ? and shall we sit quietly by its side 
and foster it? when we have power to crush it, and call 
ourselves civilized % 



204 SLAVERY IN SOUTH CAROLINA AND THE EX-SLAVES. 

And this, too, when it is proven by even Southern 
statistics over and over, past all mistake, as in Helper's 
" Impending Crisis," that it brings blasting poverty ? 

Why then can it not be put away forever ? The North 
would be a unit in that work. We heard an able reliable 
minister of this city say he would himself go into the 
ranks, as a common soldier, under an act of emancipation. 
So would thousands of just such noble men. But we need 
not say, " put away slavery forever." For the poor vic- 
tims once free, from its power, would not go under it 
again. 

As Sewell, affirms, over, and over, the planters of the 
West Indies declare, " that free labor is preferable on 
every account." Even Henry Clay, convinced of this, in 
his speech before the Colonization Society, in 1829, said : 

" It is believed that nowhere, in the farming portion 
of the United States, would slave labor be generally 
employed, if the proprietor were not tempted to raise 
slaves, by the high price of the Southern market which 
keeps it up in his own. 

Then, what possible plea, unless it intends, to stoop to 
that detestable meanness, can be found for not declaring- 
l emancipation, at once, by this chivalrous government ? 

Now, Congressmen, do you believe that most Southern 
ladies are virtuous ? Certainly, you say. Then do you 
believa that such a woman in such circumstances, must 
eithe? fail, sicken, pine away, die, or become a fury, or a 
stone 1 You know, one of these, must be the case, inevi- 
tably. Will you then rescue these noble women ? Will 
you prevent those lovely ones, coming upon the stage, 
from suffering the same ? Yea, will you save those men, 
and their ions? — for we are told by those who know, that 
few live past middle age. Their vices, and night carousals, 
and driL.xi, kill them. Kemember, too, that of the actual 



THE FLORIDA 6IA.VEU0LDEB8 NO MARBIAGE. 205 

fruits of Southern life we have hitherto known little, just 
what determined pro-slaveryists have revealed. 

Nor yet are these poor masters, beside domestic woes, 
without their dire heart agonies. As illustration : 

The "Florida slaveholder" before mentioned, with his 
princely fortune, his educated and accomplished heirs, 
the children of his parental affection, his only ones, but — 
under the " persecuting " ban of the " Colonization 
Society," " the pulpit " — Northern and Southern — and 
the " legislation " approved by them — outcasts, unable 
to testify in a Court, against a white man ; liable to be 
colonized to Liberia under force of "flagellations" and 
untold " enormities ;" or even to be kidnapped and 
enslaved ! — the Florida slaveholder, we say, with such a 
family around his board, presents another specimen of 
the liberty and human rights enjoyed by the slaveholder 1 
to say nothing of happiness. 

Another slaveholder of fortune, lived with a quadroon 
woman, without marriage, of course, for the laws would 
not permit it. His daughters were elegant, beautiful, and 
nearly white. They were free, as was also their mother ; 
but they were subject to the vexations that harass "free 
people of color." The father sought for them respectable 
connections in life, and nothing but the laws forbidding 
such marriages stood in the way; for they were much 
admired, members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, 
and one of them was loved and wooed by a white member 
of the same church, and a slaveholder ; but the law stood 
; n the way of their marriage 1 

What pain, shame, remorse, must such parents ever 
feel in the presence of those children. How small the 
pain of poverty in comparison, or of losses, or even loss 
of friends, or of life. Nothing but guilt can bring such 
anguish. Well might Y/ashington say, " the first wish of 
his heart, was to see slavery abolished." 



CHAPTER XLI. 



THE TASKMASTERS. 



There walks Judas, he who sold 
Yesterday his Lord for gold ; 
Sold God's presence in his heart 
For a proud step in the mart. 

J. R. Lowell. 

All the disgusting assumption of power, by the pre- 
tended slave-owner, who blasphemously claims God to be 
altogether such an one as himself, since he is asserted by 
God-defying D.D.'s to be the author of the lovely system 
— may be delegated to any one, or any number, of sub- 
demons, to the basest of all men, the overseers and even 
to his children, who each, for the time, has unlimited 
power, not only over his services, but his life, any one of 
whom can clear himself of any legal punishment, by his 
own oath ! Was such folly and madness ever enacted out 
of a country where slavery reigned ? Did it ever fail of 
beins; enacted in it ? For instance. 

"In South Carolina and Louisiana there are enact- 
ments, that ' Whereas many cruelties may he committed 
on slaves hecause no white person may he present to give 
evidence of the same, unless some method he provided for 
the hctter discovery of the offence? etc. i Be it enacted? 
etc. The only remedy provided is, that ' when no white 
person shall be present,' or, being present, shall refuse to 
testify, ' the owner or other person having charge of such 
slave [who shall have ' suffered in life, limb, member,' 

206 % 



GOD MAKE A WAT FOR FREEDOM 207 

etc.] shall be deemed guilty and punished,' ' unless such, 
owner or other person, etc., can make the contrary ap- 
pear by good and sufficient evidence, or shall, by his 

OWN OATH, CLEAR AND EXCULPATE HIMSELF ;' and the 

Court may administer the oath and ' acquit the of- 
fender, if clear proof of the offence be not made by two 
witnesses at least.' "* 

" Judge Stroud considers this ' a modification of the 
former law, not for the protection of the slave, but for 

THE ESPECIAL BENEFIT OF A CRUEL MASTER OR OVERSEER."f 

One who had evidently drank deep into the cup of sor- 
row said : 

" We couldn't tell how we suffer all dese long years, 
but God knows ; he sees all tings. We leave all 'at wid 
him."- 

How tamely do these words read ! Yet how thrilling 
were they as spoken ! We try, in all cases, to give their 
exact words, and the facts are invariably corroborated by 
other testimony. 

" When we see Massah comin' — wish we could die, but 
couldn't till Jesus call. We all cry, and cry to God ; he 
hear, he make a way for freedom." 

One said, and several others taken separately con- 
firmed it: 

" My brother was whipped four hundred and fifty lashes. 
Oberseer give three hundred ; couldn't do no more ; Mas- 
sah give the rest ; and when taken into 'at cabin, dere, he 
hab convulsions so 'at he shake de whole cabin ; — sick 
foil' months." 

" What did he do ?" 

" He hab care ob milk ; Mistress put it in baby's tea, 
and it sour and curdle, and when Massah talk, he say ' he 
didn't put it in de tea.' " 
* Brevard's "Dig.," p. 242. f Stroud's " Sketches," etc., p. 76. 



208 SLAVERY IN SOUTH CAROLINA AND THE EX-SLAVES. 

" What did you do when he was being whipped?" we 
asked, knowing that it is harder to be absent, and know 
that something awful is suffered by a friend, than to look 
on, hard as that is. 

" Why, I stan' in dat cabin do' and hoi' my head so," 
pressing her poor hands upon each side of her head. 
" But," she continued, " you mus' smile whenMassah see 
you, else you get just same ; and when eber you whipped, 
you untied, you must look right up in Massah's face and 
smile ; and when white men come roun' you must smile 
and say, ' You happy !' and ' Massah so good,' else you get 
whipt so awful, so awful !"* 

" Sometimes," said another, " dinner not cook good. 
"We gone 'way to get a mouthful of corn-cake cook for 
self ; driver come, say, ' You must go up and be whip- 
ped !' Have to go ; didn't want to live, but couldn't 



* As proof of the multifarious forms of craelty to the slaves, as well as 
degradation it has brought on the whites, we give an extract of a letter 
addressed to Rev. Mr. French by a very distinguished gentleman, who 
was both a large slaveholder and planter, in South Carolina : 

" , S. C, March 23, 1858. 

" There is an abiding prejudice in South Carolina against enlightening 
the minds of colored people, and against free people of color, living in 
the State. It seems to be believed, that the more ignorant the slave is, 
the better he is satisfied ; therefore the Legislature has been endeavoring 
ever since 18f>0. to prevent the liberation of slaves in the State, and to 
prevent their being educated. Hence the law is, that no slave shall be 
set free, except by Act of the Legislature ; and if otherwise, it is liable 
to be seized by any person, even a stranger, and made their own 
property ; and if any person shall teach a slave to read or write, upon 
conviction thereof, they shall be heavily fined and imprisoned, and receive 
fifty lashes on their bare back; and that if any free person of color shall 
enter this State, they shall be taken up, and sold, and turned into 
bondage. So that you can see the policy of the State, that it is in 
opposition to enlightening the colored miud. " 



GRINDING AT THE MILL — TO FIEL' VoitE DAY. 209 

die ! We all nothin' to put in ou' head, but a little corn 
— no Bait, nor nothin.' " 

Scarcely an ex-slave has come under close observation 
here, who has not scars, welts, brands, and tales of woe 
too awful to be written. We went with some to their 
mill, where for long weary years all the grinding had 
been done, and with two, turning at their utmost speed, 
it required five minutes to get a teacup full of meal. 
They were never allowed to grind after light in the morn- 
ing, so the hundred and more slaves had to take their 
turn, and grind in the evening, and then cook sufficient 
to last till the next evening. 

" Too tired, ma'am, sometimes for cook it ; den hab to 
go widout all next day, or fall sleep so tired ; corn burn 
all up. Must go by light into fiel', beg mouthful here 
and dere ; couldn't sometimes." 

On another plantation, a pious woman, the precision 
and circumstantiality alone, of whose remarks were full 
proof of their truth, but which were corroborated, said, 
" We had to go to fiel' 'fore day, to get to work by light. 
Corn in basket, couldn't cook it, couldn't get it ready, 
llab to go to pond, drink wid mules and alligators. 
Leave corn cookin' in 'e morning, sometimes burned up, 
sometimes raw, sometimes, cook'd — couldn't stop. Had 
to fulfill tasks, or be cut up ; had to fill our poor mother's 
basket too, to keep weight, so, she not be whipt and 
chirns too sometimes." 

One said, "Massah gib task mo' 'an can do. You 
whipt. To-moiTOw finish 'at task, and do de oder for 
de day. If not done, whip' g'in. I Baptist minister, an' 
follow de people, doin' good, thirty-three years. My 
broder not get task done. Massah hab weight tied to 
his foot, iron, fourteen pounds ! Den he hab to hoe one 
acre rice in day, with 'at weight on, all eat in 1 Den no 



210 SLAVEKY IN SOUTH CAROLINA AND THE EX- SLAVES. 

food, 'fraid to offer- spoonful hominy — 'fraid not 'nough 
for self; — hard to 'fuse; but hab to, so tired — go to sleep, 
water dry out, corn all burn up ! Now so peaceful, work 
in peace ; so happy ! De Loed is tkyin' us to see 

WHAT WE WILL DO, WED FREEDOM. We WOl'ks, its de Cal- 

c'lation. Work, ordinance ob God. Can't be Christian 
widout it. Now work quicker, better, so peaceful, so 
comfortable ! Not 'bliged to cut ou' wood on Sunday, 
now Massah gone !" 

" What could you do upon a plantation ?" said we, to 
a woman of eighty. 

" Oh, I min' de chil'n." 

" You ! How many did you mind ?" 

" Thirty, ma'am." 

" Why I could not take care of two !' 

" Oh, dey gits no care only so's to grow, dat's all, and 
big ones takes care little ones." It seems if a child is 
two years older than another, he is considered " big," at 
whatever age. 

Poor mothers among field-hands, and in many other 
cases, never have the privilege of attending their children, 
till in the utter exhaustion of evening. 

One physician, an aristocrat, of Beaufort, said to a 
slaveholder, " Why do not you go ont upon your planta- 
tions, and see how those Negroes died ? You know they 
are dead, why not inquire ?" 

"I have an energetic, good overseer," he replied, 
" and he states the case. It will not do, you know, to 
interfere." 

" Ought you not to know of what they died your- 
self?" 

" How can I be running all the time over my planta- 
tions." 

" Well, I tell you as a friend, and as a physician, they 



WARNED TO A DAY OF TESTING DEATHS FROM CRUELTY. 211 

were whipped to death, and the smell was such, one 
could hardly go into the room before they died." 

" I do wish men would mind their own business ! Now 
you have got a piece of my mind." 

" I do ! It is my business ; and I warn you, and I cite 
you to a day of testing. It will come to you, even in 
this world. You will repent of this, before you die." 
That man's house is now occupied by anti-slavery 
laborers. Oh, could the ministry, Congress, editors, but 
see and hear these things from the glowing lips of wit- 
nesses, how would they labor for freedom ! The book of 
slavery is open, why is it not read by workers, and 
philosophers \ 

From Weld's able work, " Slavery as it is," take a few 
specimens. On page 47 are four cases, related by Rev. 
William T. Allan, son of a slaveholding D.D. in Ala- 
bama. (1.) " A man near Courtland, Ala., of the name 
of Thompson, recently shot a negro woman through the 
head, and put the pistol so close that her hair was singed. 
He did it in consequence of some difficulty in his deal- 
ings with her as a concubine." (2.) " Two men, of the 
name of Wilson, found a fine-looking negro man at Dan- 
dridge's Quarter, without a pass, and flogged him so that 
he died in a short time. They w T ere not punished." 
(3.) " Col. Blocker's overseer attempted to flog a negro. 
He refused to be flogged, whereupon the overseer seized 
an axe, and cleft his skull. The Colonel justifted it." 
(4.) " One Jones whipped a woman to death ! for grab- 
bing a potatoe hill." 

Compare these four cases with the slave laws already 
cited. The second and fourth, being deaths by whipping, 
would pass, probably, as cases of " death under moderate 
correction." The third, Col. Blocker's overseer, would 
be justified by a Court of law as readily as by the 



212 SLAVERY LN SOUTH CAROLINA AND THE EX-SLAVE8. 

Colonel. The slave was "resisting" or "offering to 
resist " the overseer, and was therefore an outlaw. The 
first case is not quite as clear. If the concubine " resisted " 
or "offered to resist" Mr. Thompson's advances, whether 
revengeful or lustful, she came, plainly, into the same 
legal predicament, and was lawfully killed ! For " the 
legal relation " must be maintained ! Others, being in 
search of runaway negroes, surprised them in their camp, 
and fired their guns toward them as they were running 
away, to induce them to stop. One of the negroes was, 
however, killed by a random shot. Decision : " The 
firing of the defendant in the manner stated was rash and 
incautious." Slave hunts, with muskets and bloodhounds, 
are too horribly frequent, by the testimony of the South- 
ern journals, to admit of any doubt on this subject. And 
so are advertisements of runaway slaves by their owners, 
with offers of reward for them, "dead or alive!" or 

" FOR KTLLING THEM," Or for " EVIDENCE OF THEIR BEING 

killed I"* Of such slave hunts the inquirer may find 
ample details in Weld's " Slavery as it is," pp. 21, 97, 
102, 108, 155, 180. 

" In Virginia, by the Revised Code (of 1819), thero 
are seventy-one offences for which the penalty is death 

* But lest some may still doubt that in all Slavedom, a man is justified 
both by law and public sentiment, in procuring the mdrder of slaves, 
we give a few instances. 

"About the 1st of March last, the negro man Ransom left me, without 
the least provocation whatever. I will give $20 for said negro, if taken, 
dead or alive." Bryant Johnson. Macon Telegraph, Georgia, May 28, 
18^8. 

" Ranaway, my negro man Richard. A reward of $25 will be paid 
for bis apprehension, dead or alive. Satisfactory proof will only be re- 
quired of his having been killed." Durant H. Rhodes. Wilmington 
j&dvertiser, July 13, 18U8. 

"$100 will be paid to any person who may apprehend a negro man 
named Alfred. The same reward will be paid for satisfactory evidence 
of his having been killed. He has one or more sears on one of bis 
hands, caused" by his having been shot." The Citizens of Onslow. Wd- 
mington (iV. C.) Advertiser, July 13, 1838. 



THE WORD SLAVERY TNDECENT CLAIMS TO PROTECTION. 213 

when committed by slaves, and imprisonment when com- 
mitted by whites." * 

The very word slavery should be inadmissible in good 
society. Like the odious word brothel, tbe same, in 
reality, it should be spoken only with most aversion, and 
by a stern compulsion, never justified, but by great neces- 
sity. Still, slavery is far the foulest word, for it holds 
the idea of the compulsion of most of a large class. Yea 
more, the compulsion of the weak, the defenceless. 
Yea more, of the dependent, the possessed, or claimed, 
in a way to constitute in all honorable minds a claim to 
protection. Yet at the basest of calls, the oppressor, as a 
general fact, walks through all these, his obligations, as a 
foul swine, through beds of pure lilies. 

How have we and others, wished that Congress could 
take one tour here. If expense were considered, it 
would be economy, for it would stop all debate. For if 
one could see what we have seen, and then advocate 
slavery, he would be as much meaner than the common 
slaveholder, as the calm looker-on is meaner than the 
drunken fighter that mauls his innocent victim. But it 
could not, would not be if slavery as it exists here, were 
understood, its meanness, cannot be fully pictured. 

* Jay's " Inquiry," p. 134. 



CHAPTEK XLIL 

TRUTHFULNESS IN THE COLORED. 

Will not God impart his light 
To them that ask it ? Freely ; 'tis his joy, 
His glory, and his nature to impart; 
But to the proud, uncandid, insincere, 
Or negligent inquirer, not a spark. 

Cowper. 

In most cases in conversation with the Colored, the 
answer was tlie perfect opposite of what they knew we 
expected, and in all cases diverged, but with the utmost 
politeness. Speaking to an aged Colored woman, a house- 
servant of one of the amiable, serene Southern Congress- 
men, we said, " We all trust you are free, now, from 
the chains, and agonies of slavery." With a countenance 
in which was reflected the smile of heaven, she said, 
" My dear Missus, no one but the Lord, can do 'at good 
thing fo' we. Jesus, Jesus ! is on' whole trust, for all 'at, 
for everything." 

" The rebels seem to have no heart to fight," said we. 

" Oh, Missus, de prayers of de poo' Colored people, make 
um run as 'ey did. God say he will hear 'e poor. lie do. 
We pray," raising her poor hands, " O, we pray fo' 'e 
dea' sogers to come ! to prosper ! We pray wid every 
vein of ou' heart. Oh, we prays all night 'at Jesus may 
conquer." 

" The Lord is surely on the side of the oppressed,'' 
said we. 

214 



HOPE TOU OOME TO BURY ME — HOME FOR SOUL. 215 

" Do Lord lie burst 'e chains, 'at we all live in love, 
and peace, work in peace, work de ordinance of God. 
Can't serve him widout work good, all works good here, 
all I not a lazy, good-for-nothing people, on 'is place ! Not 
one." 

" We all watch you, and feel so thankful, to hear your 
noble Superintendents speak so warmly of you, as being 
so faithful, and industrious." 

" De Lord is trying us, Missus, to see what we will do, 
to improve 'is good time ob freedom. Gets ou' rights 
now, suffer none. Neber, neber, did see such good time ! 
Didn't think it possible, eber!" 

" How did you feel," we said to one, " when you heard 
of the North taking Hilton Head?" 

" Hold up my poor hands, so, and say, 'Jesus done it! 
Jesus done it !' when I hear of de victory." 

To an aged saint, whom all loved, and Superinten- 
dent highly praised, we said, " We wish we could do 
more, every M-ay, for you all." 

" Oh, Missus, Jesus will thank you, I can't 'nougk ! 
So glad, so glad, you come. Hope you come to bury me ! 
Children all sold, all gone, broke my heart. Got nobody 
but Jesus ! Can't do no mo' now but pray." 

" How do you feel about this war ?" 

" Oh, I so affected when it commence. Grieve so, so 
many die. God speak to my soul 'at ' he 'bout to break 
'e chain, and set his people free.' Thank him for dis 
chance ! all who open 'is good door, God bless urn !" 

To one, we said, " You doubtless feel great hopes of 
freedom ?" 

"I just try to save my immortal soul ; I let 'e things 
of 'is worl' go. I likes liberty, I want 'at. But I mcst 

HAVE ETERNAL HOME, FOR MY POO' SOUL. 'At is what I 

think of." 



216 SLAVERY IN SOUTH CAROLINA AND THE EX-SLAVES. 

Another said, " I want when I get to heaben, not be a 
stranger 'ere. I wants to live for 'at, and all rny chil'n, 
and chil'n's child'n." 

The fact of their candid answers, being so often the 
opposite of what they see that you expect, seems a little 
trying to them. Their saying so quietly of their wrongs, 
which rouse your indignation, " I leave all 'at with 
God, Missus," whose righteousness in their case, must 
yet be vindicated, melts the soul. As instances of can- 
did answers : Approaching a plantation house, where one 
of our Superintendents had been recently put in charge, 
a beautiful colored boy came out to conduct us in. 

" Is this the plantation of which Mr. S has 

charge ?" 

" It is, Missus ; but he is absent." 

" Sorry he is not at home. He is a good man. You 
all like him, I presume." 

" Oh, yes, Missus," said both, the boy and a Colored 
girl, now out upon the steps to greet us. 

" Yes, we are very glad you have got so good a man 
to protect you." 

" We are very glad, Missus," responded both voices. 

Turning to the boy, who had been so ready in his 

praise, we said, " Mr. S is going to take excellent 

care of you, isn't he ?" 

" I can't tell 'at, ma'am." 

This, was spoken in so manly and truthful, yet so wary 
and discriminating a manner, all tinged so deeply, with 
his consciousness, of the possibilities of his future, in the 
power of others, yet of an inner existence above, and 
apart, from all the outer, that we had to turn hastily to 
hide our emotion. 

Indeed, talking with these dear people, has a wonder- 
ful tendency to make one look suddenly at book on the 



ENKEGETIO AEORERS SUBDUING INFLUENCE PUZZLED. 217 

mantel, at some ancient article, or out of a window. It 
has been amusing to sec some of our excellent, educated, 
efficient, New Yorkers, or Bostonians, with all their the- 
ories, and plans, and their up-and-energy airs, pass gra- 
dually under this softening and subduing influence. 
Sometimes they turn with a puzzled look, and eyes not 
parched, and say slily, " There is, after all, something 
very deep in these poor people ;" or, " I do not see 
through them, entirely, after all ;" or, " Did you ever 
hear such natural eloquence, and depth ?" This, is par- 
ticularly the case, with those whose piety inhabits only 
in the upper tier of their residence. They feel a respect 
unlooked for, and an interest to hear more, and more, 
from them, springs up, and it would not be a marvel, if 
many fine scholars find that a man, in his lowest outward 
estate, is, after all, greater than any book, and that when 
the Divine presence shines through every feature, and 
word, it must be mighty, and felt, though that feeling 
may be, with any possible shade of dislike, or of love. 
This influence may not be understood, but its ennobling 
power is there, and is recognized. And in exact propor- 
tion, to the lack of an answering experience, the discri- 
minating beholder, is more, or less puzzled. 

But this candor, in conversation, together with deep 
thought, or " studying out 'e thing," as they call it, and 
the enlightenment of the Spirit in the pmus, all give to 
their answers a wonderful originality, and zest, which 
make ordinary, polite conversation, so termed, seem 
oppressively tame and vapid. 



10 



CHAPTER XLIII. 

KNOWLEDGE OF THE COLORED. 

Who made the heart, 'tis He alone 

Decidedly can try us : 
He knows each chord — its various tone, 

Each spring — its various bias : 
Then at the balance let's be mute, 

We never can adjust it : 
What's done we partly may compute, 

But know not what's resisted. 

Burns. 

We aver that a man may live here for years and know 
nothing of slavery, nothing of the true Negro character as 
a whole. He, for instance, looks out upon a plantation ; 
he sees stealing out and in those miserable huts equally 
miserable-looking beings, especially if seen at a distance. 
The sight is repulsive, and human nature hates ugly ap- 
pearances. He beholds it, from month to month, the 
same. If, in the army, he sees the worst side, of the 
worst, of those poor people. Were he a Lord Bacon, he 
would go in, and converse with them, for the sake of 
reading this open book of primitive, undisguised, human 
mind. He would bring his theories to the proof, as the 
anatomist does his, with the unconscious human body. 
Had he the mind of a Newton, he would learn God, 
in his revelations to these men. But how much cultiva- 
tion does it require to appreciate ! Suppose one at a dis- 
tance of a mile from New York city, with only cases of 

218 



OBSERVATION — MILITARY RULE — LIBERAL MINDS. 219 

delinquency or criminality *to attend to, what opinion 
would he have of our city ? What military dictatorship 
would he not advise ? But let him go in, and become 
acquainted, and how would his estimation of the city he 
changed ? So, let one from a distant camp observe these 
people, have the mere toil of military rule of them, of 
providing for them, in masses, and he knows no more of 
them in one year, than in one day. Or, suppose he lakes 
the representations of one, two, or three, from casual ob- 
servation, we say he can never know the Negro character 
thus. Why does he not converse freely with the masses ? 
call them out and know what is in them ? How is he los- 
ing opportunities, for which sages have sighed in vain ! If 
he have prejudices against them, such, as to prevent this 
converse Avith them, his narrow mind, of course, can never 
understand them. But to show the fact, that this utter 
ignorance of them exists, we give remarks of those of 
high qualities and positions. In reference to arming 
them, one says: 

" They will never fight, they will throw down their 
guns, and run right into the arms of their Masters." 

Another, of the same opportunities for observation, 
replies : " No, they will massacre every man of them." 

One says, " They will never stand fire." 

Another, " They will fight like tigers." 

Yet these are all men of equal parts, and opportunities. 
But all are mistaken, as one week's familiar converse 
with them would prove to them, for all history of them 
proves it. They will fight, we aver — and we challenge 
disproof — like tigers, for the freedom of their children, 
their wives, themselves. They will scarcely take a life, 
from revenge. "We could prove this by abundant illus- 
trations. 

They speak of having certain overseers, who they all say 



220 6LAYEEY IN SOUTH CAROLINA AND THE EX-SLAVES. 

have caused the deaths of scores of Negroes, whom they 
name and tell all particulars of — arrested, and their crimes 
proven, when a Colored man's oath can betaken; but 
they never, never ! speak of revenge. 

In the " Memoirs of La Croix," a French officer, and 
therefore not partial to them, it is said of the Colored 
soldiers under Toussaint L'Ouverture, " that it was re- 
markable to see the Africans, half naked, with musket 
and sabre, giving an example of the severest discipline. 
They went out for a campaign,- with nothing to eat but 
maize, established themselves in towns, without touching 
anything, exposed for sale in the shops, nor pillaging the 
farmers who brought things to market. Supple and trem- 
bling before their officers, respectful to citizens, they 
seemed only to wish to obey the instinct for liberty, 
which was inspired in them by Toussaint."* 

And never were greater or more frequent and constant 
feats of valor performed, in the whole history of nations, 
than in Hayti, under that most able general. Only con- 
quered at last, by being immensely outnumbered, and 
confiding in the honor of the French. But the just his- 
tory, of all that noble contest for liberty is yet to be writ- 
ten, and it will be. Still, the Negro is most adapted to 
peace and to agriculture, though it is the testimony of 
accurate observers that never did they see persons so de- 
lighted with handling tools, and the wonders of mecha- 
nism. One chaplain says, they would work steadily for 
that mere pleasure, for hours, so delighted were they with 
saws, planes, chisels, etc. 

" They work well," says a Superintendent, and all reite- 
rate the -same. " Three cases of trouble I have had," 
said he. "They had difficulty among themselves, and 
came to me quite excited. I said to them, 'I cannot 
* See La Croix's " Memoirs." 



AMUSING CONTRADICTIONS ACCUSATIONS — SERVANTS. 221 

hear you until you arc cool. Go away, and stay until 
you are.' In every case," continued he, " they settled it 
among themselves. One came, and said, ' Massali, I 
could not sleep last night, because I had spoke wrong. 
Will you forgive me for speaking wrong to the fore- 
man V — driver formerly — I said ; This pleases me most 
of aH. Now I know you will be good.' " 

This is substantially the report we get from all planta- 
tions. Not a Superintendent scarcely but is in most ex- 
cellent heart, hale and happy. Though some say that 
money would not induce them to stay in those desolate 
places, still, when they see the wrongs, and needs, and 
ambitions, of the Colored, they do it gladly for their 
sake. • 

One is living in a barn. He says his presence saved 
them from awful wrongs from some unprincipled soldiers. 
They plead for a white man, to guide and protect them, 
under their disabilities, the work of slavery. They are uni- 
versally kind, giving them many presents, etc., etc., and 
obedient. They usually get their tasks done between three 
and four p. m., and are very ambitious then, to work in 
their gardens, and read. 

Bur it is amusing to watch the expressions of the 
haters of the Negro race. They will run on, that " they 
will not work," " w T ill not provide," " will not live de- 
cently," " will steal," etc., etc. But fear not, having been 
allowed to spin out this whole thread, they almost inva- 
riably add, " But I have a servant, or servants, that are 
exceptions to the whole of them — the best, absolutely, 
the best, most agreeable, most capable, most complete, 
servant I ever had, without an exception. I must get 
them North somehow, for I don't see howl shall ever live 
without them. I believe the majority of the blacks," 
he goes on, " will steal, but I can trust mine to any ex- 



222 SLAVERY IN SOUTH CAROLINA AND THE EX-SLAVES. 

tent. I never look after any tiling." " And we can say 
the same, of some," we add. 

Now this, given almost word for word, but spoken with 
deeper meaning, than can be put into words, is the testi- 
mony of almost every one, South, with whom we have 
conversed, among all civil and military officers, civilians, 
and their relatives, and they have been scores. This, 
too, nearly all accounts, from all camps, corroborate. 
Still, these same persons will go right on and say, " What 
can be done with them if they are suddenly made free ?" 
If they are asked, 

What can be done with yours ? 
" Oh, he is, or they are, exceptions." 
So are ours, we say ; so almost every one's servant, or 
servants, prove exceptions. And if all who want help 
North, and South, under freedom, get " exceptions," the 
rest will be easily provided for. 

The fact is, when the Negro wants to do, he is of all 
most competent, and the invariable testimony is, that 
he always wants to do, if he gets pay for it. And the 
same genius that is fruitful in finding " onpossibilities," 
in the way, in slavery, is equally fruitful in finding 
expedients, when free, and paid. So, on one plantation, 
in Jamaica, according to Sewell and others, " 93 ! free 
Colored men, worked a plantation that had always 
required 225 ! slaves, and produced from it 52 more 
hogsheads of sugar," and instances of the like increase, 
might be multiplied, to almost any extent. But, as to 
domestic qualities, only one Superintendent says, '* The 
Negroes care little about their wives, and children." 
Most others say, " they love them equally with the 
Whites." Others say, " they love them far, far, better." 
So that no one's opinion should be taken alone. Take 
a person not genuinely anti-slavery, with a dislike to the 



PROSPERITY WITH APPRENTICED SLAVES IMPOSSLBLE. 223 

Colored, and such, we regret to say, there are among lis, 
at Port Royal, and put him over a number, he having 
much power, and he will almost surely come to criticise 
them more, and more, and, of course, that becomes 
mutual. When, if he hired the same persons, and paid 
them weekly, he would prize them very highly, at least. 

To illustrate. Let a man have one hundred working 
emigrants, or day laborers, of any city, out upon a planta- 
tion, and suppos'e they were accustomed to, and attached 
to it. Let him merely give them rations, miserable cabins, 
dubious, and unsatisfactory promises, respecting pay. 
Then let him treat them with the love that lfts conversa- 
tion, with you, would lead you to expect, and how, think 
you, would he succeed, with them ? But, on the other 
hand, let the same man hire them knowing that they 
could leave his employ any day, or moment, and, always 
speak to them, and treat with them, under that know- 
ledge, and how totally different would be the result. 
Here is just the difference between any apprenticeship, 
or gradual emancipation, and free labor. And shall this 
noble nation actually enslave, for the present, by eman- 
cipating gradually ? Forbid it, ye noble voters ! In 
you we confide, for true nobility. But in fact, the Colored, 
here, have had far less liberty to go and come, than 
under their former masters. For instance, most were per- 
mitted to go from one plantation to another, or into Beau- 
fort, upon the Sabbath. This, is prohibited not only by 
military necessity, but also, usually, by Superintendents. 

Poor race, there seems no end to their disabilities. 
But they submit, very cheerfully, in general, saying, 
" We must all 'spect to suffer, and to lose ou' privileges, 
during 'is confusion. It's all for ou' liberty and ou' 
country, and we must, bear ebery ting for 'at." 

But while one sees that the poor Colored are looked at 






224 SLAVERY IN SOUTH CAROLINA AND THE EX-SLAVES. 

with prejudice, to say the least, by most, he must remem- 
ber that this has ever invariably been the fate of an 
oppressed race. Witness our own ancestors, not ten cen- 
turies since, made by every surrounding people to seem 
tenfold worse heathen, than they actually were, and that, 
surely, was bad enough. 

THE ENSLAVED BRITONS. , 

The Romans might have found an image of their own 
ancestors in, the representation they have given of ours. 
And we may form not an imperfect idea what our ances- 
tors were, at the time Julius Csesar invaded Britain, by 
the present condition of some of the African tribes. In 
them we may perceive, as in a mirror, the features of our 
progenitors ; and by our own history, we may learn the 
extent to which such tribes may be elevated by means 
favorable to their improvement.*" 

When the inhabitants of a free country are heard jus- 
tifying the injuries inflicted upon the natives of Africa, 
or opposing the introduction of liberal institutions among 
any portion of them, on the vulgar ground that they are 
an inferior class of beings to themselves, it is but fair to 
remind them, that there was a period, when Cicero con- 
sidered THEIR OWN ANCESTORS AS UNFIT TO BE EMPLOYED 

even as slaves in the house of a Eoman citizen. 

"Seated one day in the house of a friend at Cape 
Town," says Dr. Philip, " with a bust of Cicero on my 
right hand, and one of Sir Isaac Newton on the left, I 
accidentally opened a booh on the table at that passage 
in Cicero's letter to Atticus, in which the philosopher 
speaks so contemptuously of the natives of Great Bri- 

* Dr. Philip. 



CICEEo's AND CJESAE's OPINIONS OF BEITOXS FOE SLATES. 225 

aim* Struck with, the curious coincidence, arising from 
the circumstances in which I then found myself placed, 
pointing to the bust of Cicero, and then to that of Sir 
Isaac Newton, 1 could not help exclaiming, ' Hear what 
that man says of that man's country !' ' 

Were it not so indubitably recorded on the page of 
history, we should hardly be willing to believe that there 
was a time when our ancestors, the ancient Britons, went 
nearly without clothing,, painted their bodies in fantas- 
tic fashion, offered up human victims to uncouth idols, 
and lived in hollow trees, or rude habitations, which we 
should now consider unfit for cattle. Making all due 
allowance for the different state of the world, it is much 
to be questioned whether they made more rapid advances 
than have been effected by many African nations, and 
that they were really sunk into the lowest degree of bar- 
barism is unquestionable. 

Cicero relates that the ugliest and most stupid slaves 
in Borne came from England ! Moreover, he urges his 
friend Atticus "not to buy slaves from Britain, on 
account of their stupidity ,'and their inaptitude to learn 
music and other accomplishments." 

With Caesar's opinion of our ancestors, we are, per- 
haps, some of us not sufficiently acquainted. He describes 
the Britons generally, as a nation of very barbarous man- 
ners : " Most of the people of the interior," he says, 
" never sow corn, but live upon milk and flesh, and are 
clothed with skins." In another place he remarks, " In 

* " Britannici belli exitus expectatur : constat eniin aditus insula? 
esse munitos niirificis molibus : etiani illud jam cognituin est, neque 
argenti scrnpulum esse ulluin in ilia insula, neque ullam spem 
praedse nisi ex mancipiis : ex quibus nullos puto, te Uteris aut mu- 
sicis eruditos expectare."— Ejpist. Ad. Atticum, 1. iv., Epist. 16. 

10* 



226 SLAVERY IN SOUTH CAROLINA AND THE EX-SLAVES. 

their domestic and social habits, the Britons are as de- 
graded as the most savage nations. Tliey are clothed 
with skins ; wear the hair of their heads unshaven and 
long, but shave the rest of their bodies, except their up- 
per lip, and stain themselves a blue color with woad, 
which gives them a horrible aspect in battle."* 

" Let us not then the Negro Slave despise, • 
Just such our sires appeared in Caesar's eyes." 

Should we not laugh at Tacitus or Pliny, if, from the 
circumstances thus related, they had condemned the 
British Islands to an eternity of Boeotian darkness — to be 
the officina of hereditary bondage and transmitted help- 
lessness ? Yet this is the sort of reasoning employed by 
the perpetrators and apologists of Negro slavery. Alas, 
for Christian guilt ! can it be equalled by any Pagan 
crime ? 

"We think unmoved of millions of our race, 
Swept from thy soil by cruelties prolonged ; 
Another clime then ravaged to replace 
The wretched Indians ; — Africa now wronged 
To fill the void where millions lately thronged." 

In an estimate formed by De. Johnson of what man- 
kind have lost or gained by European conquest, having ' 
adverted to the cruelties which have been committed, 

* Quoted by Dr. Brichard, who also, after much research, ima- 
gines " the ancient Britons were nearly on a level with the New 
Zealanders or Tahitiaus of the present day, or perhaps not very su- 
perior to the Australians." — Researches, III., ]82. At page 181 
of the same volume, Dr. Prichard also remarks, " Of all Pagau 
nations the Gauls and Britons appear to have had the most san- 
guinary rites. They may well*be compared in this respect with 
the Ashanti, Dahomehs, and other nations of Western Africa." 



de. Johnson's estimate — oppressors' motives. 227 

and the manner in which the laws of religion have been 
outrageously violated, he adds, "Europeans have scarcely 
visited any coast, but to gratify avarice and extend cor- 
ruption ; to arrogate dominion without right, and prac- 
tise cruelty without incentive ;" and he then gives it as 
his opinion, that " it would have been happy for the op- 
pressed, and still more happy for the invaders, that their 
designs had slept in their own bosoms." 

The direst study of mankind is man. 
The system of oppression under which the African race 
suffer so grievously, renders it imperative on their op- 
pressors to allege some reasons, as plausible as they are 
able, in their own defence. That slave merchants, who 
traffic in human flesh, and Negro drivers, who use their 
lellow-creatures worse than cattle, should attempt to 
justify their conduct by depressing the African to a 
level with the brute, is what might reasonably be ex- 
pected. Thus do the oppressors of their fellow-men 
satisfy their consciences by pretending to believe that the 
unfortunate Negro is a brute, or at best, only a connect- 
ing link between the brute creation and Man. They 
desire to degrade him below the standard of humanity, 
attempting to deface all title to the Divine image from his 
mind ; thus do they reconcile the cruel hardships under 
which' the victims of their oppression are still doomed to 
groan, maintaining that Negroes make a decided ap- 
proach toward the native inferiority of the monkey tribe 
— that they are endowed by the Creator with the noble 
gift of reason in a 'very inferior degree, when com- 
pared with the more favored inhabitants of Europe. 
Two descriptions of men have come to this conclusion. 
The first are those who have had to contend with the 
passions and vices of the Negro in his purely Pagan 
state, and who have applied no other instrument to elicit 



228 SLAVERY IN SOUTH CAROLINA AND THE EX-SLAVES. 

the virtues they have demanded than the stimulus of the 
whip and the stern voice of authority. "Who can won- 
der that they have failed ? They have expected " to 
reap where they have not sown," and " to gather where 
nothing has been strewn." They have required moral 
ends, without the application of moral means ; and their 
failure, therefore, leaves the question of the capacity of 
the Negro untouched, and proves nothing but their own 
folly. In the second class may be included our minute 
philosophers who take the gauge of intellectual capacity 
entirely in the support of slavery. 

TuAT VERY LITTLE IMPORTANCE CAN BE ATTACHED to the 

allegation of an external resemblance between the Negro 
and inferior animals, may be clearly inferred from the 
fact, that the same remark has been made, even by intel- 
ligent travellers, respecting particular people of other 
varieties of the human race. Regnard concludes his 
description of the Laplanders with these words : " voila 
la description de ce petit animal qu'on appelle Lapon, et 
Ton peut dire qu'il n'y en a point, apres le singe, qui 
approche plus l'homme." An Esquimaux, who was 
brought to London by Cartwright, when he first saw a 
monkey, asked, " Is that an Esquimaux ?" His compan- 
ion adds, " I must confess, that both the color and con- 
tour of the animal's countenance had considerable re- 
semblance to the people of their nation." 1ST. del Techo 
calls the Caaiguas of South America, " tarn simiis simi- 
les, quam hominibus ;" and J. R. Forster, in the obser- 
vations of his journey round the world, asserts, "the in- 
habitants of the island of Mallicollo, of all the people 
whom I have seen, have the nearest relationship to the 
monkeys." 

"Whether we investigate the physical or the moral 
nature of Man, we recognize at every step the limited 



POOR COMPLIMENT TO MEN — DR. LAWRENCE^ OPINION. 229 

extent of our knowledge. That the greatest ignorance > 
has prevailed on this subject, even in modern times, and 
among men of reputed learning and acuteness, is 
evinced by the strange notion very strenuously asserted 
by Monboddo and Rosseau, and firmly believed by some, 
that Man and the monkey, or at least the ourang-ou- 
tang, belong to the same species, and are not otherwise 
distinguished from each other, than by circumstances 
which can be accounted for, by the different physical and 
moral agencies to which they have been exposed. The 
former of these writers even supposes that the human 
race once possessed tails ! and he says " the ourang-ou- 
tangs are proved to be of our species, by marks of hu- 
manity that are incontestible ;" a poor compliment to 
Man, indeed. 

" The completely unsupported assertions of Mon- 
boddo and Rousseau," says Dr. Lawrence, " only show 
that they were equally unacquainted with the structure 
and functions of men and monkeys ; not conversant with 
zoology and physiology, and therefore entirely destitute 
of the principles on which alone a sound judgment can 
be formed concerning the natural capabilities and des- 
tiny of animals, as well as the laws according to which 
certain changes of character, certain departures from the 
original stock, may take place." 

" The peculiar characteristics of Man," continues the 
above writer, "appear to me so very strong, that I not 
only deem him a distinct species, but also put him into a 
separate order by himself. His physical and moral attri- 
butes place him at a much greater distance from all other 
orders of mammalia, than those are from each other 
respectively." 

Sturge and Harvey state, that " a gentleman of great 
intelligence, long resident in Antigua, remarked to them, 



230 SLAVERY IN SOUTH CAROLINA AND THE EX-SLAVES. 

that the features of the Negroes had altered within his 
memory, which he attributed to their elevation by edu- 
cation and religious instruction." " Perhaps it is that 
the features' become more agreeable, in proportion as 
people recede from the eifeets and influence of slavery." 
As an illustration of the remarkable effects of educa- 
tion in altering the features of Man, and entirely chang- 
ing the expression of his countenance, we have one cir- 
cumstance on record which is very conclusive. I allude 
to the singular case of Kaspar Hauser, who was confined 
in a dungeon in a state of entire ignorance, till he was 
about eighteen years of age. His biographer, Anselm 
Von Fuerbach, President of the Bavarian Court of Ap- 
peal, whose authority may be strictly relied upon, re- 
lates, " that on Kaspar's being thrown adrift in the 
world, when he was first discovered by the inhabitants 
of JSTuremburg, his face was very vulgar : when in a 
state of tranquillity, it was almost without any expres- 
sion ; and its lower features being somewhat prominent, 
gave him a brutish appearance. His weeping was only 
an ugly contortion of the mouth, and the staring look of 
his blue, but clear bright eyes, had also an expression of 
brutish obtuseness." Von Fuerbach expressed a wish at 
this period, that Kaspar's portrait might be taken by a 
skillful painter, because he felt assured that his features 
would soon alter. His wish was not gratified, but his 
prediction was soon fulfilled. The effect of education 
produced a wonderful alteration in his whole counte- 
nance ; indeed, the formation of his face altered in a few 
months almost entirely ; his countenance gained expres- 
sion and animation, and the prominent lower features of 
his face receded more and more, so that his earlier physi- 
ognomy could scarcely any longer be recognized.* 
* Life of Kaspar Hauser. 



INFLUENCE OF CIVILIZATION UFON FEATURES. 231 

The alteration "and improvement of the features, under 
the influence of the civilizing process, is elucidated by 
so many indubitable facts, that it is unnecessary to dwell 
longer upon this subject. If the operation of this in- 
fluence could be applied more thoroughly and universally, 
it would cause a nearer approximation to each other, be- 
tween the European and the African, and must tend, in 
a great measure, to obliterate those distinctions, on 
which the untenable theories of diversity of origin have 
been founded, and which have been adduced in favor of 
Negro Slavery. Dr. Philip, from the facts which have 
come under his observation, says, he has no hesitation in 
giving it as his opinion, that the complexion, the form 
of the countenance, and even the shape of the head, are 
much affected by the circumstances under which human 
beings are placed at an early age. In corroboration of 
the opinion here advanced, he says, " I have had the sat- 
isfaction to remark at our Missionary stations, what ap- 
peared to me an improvement, not only in the counte- 
nance, but even in the shape of the head, for three suc- 
cessive generations." 

If, as travellers inform us, many Africans differ from 
Europeans in little else than color, the peculiar construc- 
tion of the head, on the faith of which, some would 
class them as a distinct species, appears to be by no 
means a constant character. Dr. Knox, who has entered 
minutely into the study of Man, says, that in consider- 
ing the lower specimens of humanity, too much import- 
ance has been attached to the cranium and the science 
of cranioscopy ; for it is not in the skull, says he, but 
in the outer covering of the body or skeleton, that na- 
ture has placed the great marks of difference. " Strip 
off the integuments of Yenus, and compare her with a 
Bush Woman, and the difference would be seen to be 



232 SLAVERY IN SOOTH CAROLINA AND THE EX-SLAVES. 

very slight." Dr. Knox, it may be observed, after con- 
siderable research, arrives at this important conclusion, 
" that there is an impassable gulf between the higher 
order of animals and the Negro." 

I am not very partial to phrenology, but if quantity of 
brain and mental superiority have a connection with each 
other, we have a high authority, that of Dr. Tiedeman, an 
eminent German, for believing that no inferiority exists 
in this respect, for he asserts that in quantity of brain 
they equal the fair races. Dr. Tiedeman communicated 
a paper to the British Royal Society, detailing the com- 
parative examination of the brains of a number of Ne- 
groes — size, weight, conformation, etc., demonstrating 
that no material difference exists, between them and the 
brain? of the White races. 

Professor Blumenbach, the great German physiologist, 
bestowed much labor and research on the question of Ne- 
gro capacity. He collected a large number of skulls, and 
also a numerous library of the works of persons of Afri- 
can blood or descent. He is, perhaps, the greatest autho- 
rity, in favor of the identity of species and equality of intel- 
lect of the Black and White races. It is to Blumenbach, 
that we are indebted for the most complete body of infor- 
mation on this subject, which he illustrated most success- 
fully by his unrivalled collection of the cranire of different 
nations from all parts of the globe. His admirable work 
" On the Varieties of the Human Species," contains a 
short sketch of the various formations of the skull in dif- 
ferent nations ; but he has treated the subject at greater 
length, and with more minute detail, in his " Decades 
Craniorum," in which the craniae themselves are repre- 
sented of their natural size. 

From the results of the observations of Blumenbach and 
•others, it appear, then, that there is no characteristic 



THE ANCIENT FINS INI50-GERMANS — DR. CHALMERS. 233 

whatever in the organization of the skull or brain of the 
Negro which affords a presumption of inferior endowment 
either of the intellectual or moral faculties. If it be 
asserted that the African nations are inferior to the rest 
of mankind, from historical facts, because they may be 
thought not to have contributed their share to the 
advancement of human arts and science, the Mandingoes 
may be instanced as a people evidently susceptible of 
high mental culture and civilization. They have not, 
indeed, contributed much toward the advancement of 
human arts and science, but they have evinced them- 
selves willing and able to profit by these advantages when 
introduced among them. The civilization of many Afri- 
can nations is much superior to that of the aborigines of 
Europe, during the ages which preceded the conquests 
made by the Goths and Swedes in the North, and by the 
Eomans in the Southern part. The old Finnish inhabi- 
tants of Scandinavia had long, as it has been proved by 
the learned investigations of Kims, the religion of fetishes, 
and a vocabulary as scanty as that of the most barbarous 
Africans. They had lived from ages immemorial with- 
out laws, or government, or social union ; every indi- 
vidual in all things the supreme arbiter of his own 
actions ; and they displayed as little capability of emerg- 
ing from the squalid sloth of their rude and merely ani- 
mal existence. "When conquered by a people of In do- 
German origin, who brought with them from the East 
the rudiments of mental culture, they emerged more 
slowly from their pristine barbarism than many of the 
native African nations have since done. Even at the 
present day, there are hordes in various parts of northern 
Asia, whose heads have the form belonging to the Tar- 
tars, to the Sclavonians, and other Europeans, but who 
are below many of the African tribes in civilization. 



234 SLAVERY IN SOUTH CAROLINA AND THE EX-SLAVES. 

'•The Christian philosopher," says Dr. Chalmers, "sees 
in every man, a partaker of his own nature, and a brother 
of his own species. He contemplates the human mind 
in the generality of its great elements. He enters upon 
a wide field of benevolence, and disdains the geographical 
barriers by which little men would shut out one half of 
the species from the kind offices of the other. Let man's 
localities be what they may, it is enough for his large 
and noble heart, that he is bone of the same bone." 

A powerful argument may yet be adduced, which ap- 
pears to us conclusive of the whole question relating to 
man's unity of origin, and that is, the testimony of the 
sacred Scriptures, which ascribe one origin to the whole 
human family. Our Scriptures have not left us to de- 
termine the title of any tribe to the full honors of human- 
ity by accidental circumstances. One passage affirms, 
that " God hath made of one blood all the nations of men, 
for to dwell on all the face of the earth ;" that they are 
of one family, of one origin, of one common nature : the 
other, that our Savior became incarnate, "that he, by 
the grace of God, should taste death for every man." * 
" Behold then," says the pious Richard Watson, " the 
foundation of the fraternity of our race, however colored 
and however scattered. Essential distinctions of inferi- 
ority and superiority had been, in almost every part of 
the Gentile world, adopted as the palliation or the justi- 
fication of the wrongs inflicted by man on man ; but 
against this notion, Christianity, from its first promulga- 
tion, has lifted up its voice. God hath made the varied 
tribes of men ' of one blood.' Dost thou wrong a human 
being ? He is thy brother. Art thou his murderer by 
war, private malice, or a wearing and exhausting oppres- 
sion ? ' The voice of thy brother's blood crieth to God 
* " Tribute to the Negro." 



CHRIST, BROTHER BY HUMANITY, TO EYERY HAN. 235 

from the ground.' Dost thou, because of some accidental 
circumstances of rank, opulence, and power <m thy part, 
treat him with scorn and contempt'? He is thy 'brother 
for whom Christ died ;' the incarnate Redeemer assumed 
his nature as well as thine ; He came into the world to 
seek and to save him as well as thee ; and it was in refe- 
rence to him also that He went through the scenes of the 
garden and the cross. There is not, then, a man on earth 
who has not a Father in heaven, and to whom Christ is 
not an Advocate and Patron ; nay, more, because of our 
common humanity, to whom he is not a Brother." 

" We have never heard an oath, among the Colored," 
is a general and so far as we know or have heard, a uni- 
versal remark. But, if one will cast about him, he will 
recollect that profanity is comparatively unheard of 
among them, in the free States. Here, it seems to have 
been the prerogative of Massah. Still, it is a wonder 
that none caught it, that none are base enough to use it. 
Not one, many say, strange as that may seem. 

Their reverence for the Sabbath, is great. Though 
from necessity many have labored even upon it, to be 
decent, still what their consciences do forbid they are 
strenuous in observing. On two plantations, they had 
prayer-meetings, nearly every evening among themselves, 
and quite a revival was going on. The devoted, seem to 
look for the salvation of souls, continually. 

But docility, and reverence, seem their strong features. 
Last Sabbath as we passed to church, we saw some boys 
playing at ball. We said to one, " Do not play, boys, on 
this holy Sabbath." Running toward us with a low bow, 
and in full ivory, the lad said, " We will not do so any mo', 
Missus." But whether they kept this sincere intent is 
doubtful, for one says, " they are an exceedingly 'promis- 
ing' race." This fact, or that they are "promising," 
we find, in many of our expedients for meetings, etc., 



236 SLAVERY IN SOUTH CAROLINA AND THE EX-SLAVES. 

all promising, most cordially, to try to come, and thank- 
ing Missus for calling to invite them, but generally, 
being missing at the hour, at least, often, absent alto- 
gether. 

Still, all remark upon being surprised and disappointed, 
in regard to their truth, in assertions. Most say, "It is the 
very reverse of what they expected." " They are entirely 
reliable, in most cases, in assertions " especially among 
the pious. But probably " onpossibilities " occur in keep- 
ing promises. 

If they excel in any virtue, it is perhaps in their 
conscientiousness, and high standard of Christianity. 
Still, some Superintendents say the pious ones will take 
things, for the needs of the body, and not seem con- 
demned for it. We know it is as natural for a savage, to 
steal, as to drink when thirsty ; and how far necessity has 
justified them, in past life, we leave to their Judge. 
Slavery is a system of robbery from top to bottom ; and 
if a man should take your child and sell him, you would 
probably think little of taking a cup of his sugar. 

But, when one is asked, "Are you a Christian?" the 
answer is : 

" O ! Is'e tryin', tryin' ! to be, Missus. De gate straight, 
I tryin' to enter." Or, " Through 'e grace of ou' Lord 
Jesus Christ, I tryin' to be. 

All their sayings, songs, and boatsongs, make it indeed 
like the camel, or cable, going through the eye of a 
needle to get into heaven. And what their conscience 
does require, they are exceedingly strenuous in observing. 

Some ministers asked some slaves to sing "Dixie." 

" We's members, we can't sing songs like 'at," was the 
answer. 

We conversed with a driver, who called all around 
him to witness that he received " two hundred lashes, 
'cause he wouldn't lie, wouldn't lie ! wouldn't, sin so." 



WOULDN'T SIN CHRISTIANIZE TIIE COLORED. 237 

He said as his a Massah" talked to him before he 
whipped him, he " stood by railin' on 'e porch, 'cause if 
Massah knock me down, fall ober de railin' and break 
neck and die ; and wanted to die, but darsn't kill 'self. 
But 'e railin' was little too high, Missus," said he, " so 
when Massah hit me, couldn't fall over, couldn't die, but 
wouldn't lie, wouldn't ! and didn't lie ! so got two 
hundred lash. 'At ole Massah go horseback in hel' and 
cut Nigger, ebery step while he working ; seemed crazy 
sometimes. He whip ebery Nigger Monday morning, 
always, ebery one." 

As to thieving, our experience proves that, with a 
given number of servants, the thieving is not one hun- 
dredth part what it is with ordinary emigrants, if it even 
equals that. We have two Colored servants that the ladies 
say " they would trust with uncounted money," after all 
the variety of tests to which they have been here put. 

In fine, as to conscientiousness, they are very exact in 
doing what conscience does require, but that faculty 
needs the education of freedom, justice, honesty, in short, 
of free manhood, doubtless. 

"We ! Christianize these Colored people ! "We rather 
learn the true, full spirit of Christianity from many of 
them. This is the testimony of most, in proportion to 
their candor, and access, either of officers, chaplains, 
privates, or civilians. While there is nothing abject or 
mean in their humility, it is as nearly perfect as possible. 
You are invariably reproved, just in proportion to your 
appreciation of real excellence, and of all relations. But 
the very features, which excite in one beholder, love, 
reverence, for their kindness, submission, piety, yea, for 
the " God in them," only lead another, a stupid person, 
to say, how stupid ! But, to illustrate. In speaking of 
the injuries received, at the hands of their masters, there 



238 SLAVERY IN SOUTH CAROLINA AND THE EX-SLATE8. 

is in many, a dignity, a consciousness, of injured man- 
hood, before which you, involved, with your country, 
stand as a culprit. You express indignation, which 
requires an answer. That answer reproves you ; for 
instance, you say, " Was he not awfully wicked ?" 

" 'At is all between him, or his soul, and de Lord, 
Missus." 

Your pity for them, instead of sinking into contempt, 
rises into silent awe, of the majesty of God in man. The 
most wronged, and that, not, for one, or two, or more 
instances, which we visit so severely, even in friends, but 
for every moment of a long life — Ave say every moment, 
that includes his sleeping moments, for even in these he 
cannot have a bed, lest he be lazy, he cannot have even 
his poor rags, or blanket, alone. So that every moment, 
even in externals, lie is wronged — every moment is he a 
sufferer, we say, but when you speak of the heart-break 
ing wrongs of his whole life, he says in the most touch- 
in gly plaintive manner, "I leave all 'at wid 'e Lord." 
And he does. It is nothing put on. But there is in that 
mute appeal to God, that casting of the whole case, ujjon 
him, a power, greater than dwells in armies, a power, 
that calls in the omnipotence of God, a power, that 
should make the slaveholder, the country, tremble. It 
is an appeal never, never ! made to God in vain. 

True, one may merely say, " I leave it to God," and 
not be avenged. But he cannot actually in the centre 
of his soul, leave it to God, and continue so to do, and 
not be avenged, speedily. Men fear those, who, with 
power threaten revenge. But that is nothing, to be 
feared in comparison with this mute leaving all to 
Omnipotent God, to whom " vengeance belongeth/' as 
alas ! this whole country is now finding. But why, 
why, should others, voters, Congressmen, incur this* 



MUTE EFFECTUAL APTEAL TO GOD. 239 

-wrath., upon tliem and their innocent families, by need- 
lessly becoming partakers of the slaveholders' sins, by 
justifying, or tardily, and feebly, opposing them, and 
thus receive of his plagues ? For, in the Bible, invariably, 
the standing, and beholding, and consenting, or not inter- 
fering, is ever put on exact equality, with the crime. 



CHAPTER XLIV. 

SHALL THE BOND GO FREE? 

Oh, Freedom ! thou art not a fair young girl 
With light and delicate limbs : a bearded man, 
Armed to the teeth, art thou ; one mailed hand 
Grasps the broad shield, and one the sword ; thy brow, 
Glorious in beauty though it be, is scarred 
With tokens of old wars ; thy massive limbs 
Are strong with straggling. Power at thee has launched 
His bolts, and with his lightnings smitten theej 
They could not quench the life thou had'st from heaven. 

Bryant. 

As to whether they are prepared for freedom, after 
conversing with scores who have the care of them here, 
together with all other evidences, we say unhesitatingly, 
they are. Besides, no man has a right to ask that question 
respecting another freeman. Of course, every man is 
prepared for freedom until he commits a crime, then he 
is prepared for a prison, and not before. The following 
we give as an illustration : 

" Deacon Davis, of Hampton, Va., one of the class 
known as contrabands, was called to a platform. He 
delivered an address that claimed the earnest attention of 
the audience. He described the sufferings he had under- 
gone as a slave — not of the body, but of the heakt and 
soul, in the sundering of domestic ties, the tearing of 
his wife and children from him — with a pathos not to be 
resisted, lie said : 

240 



DEACON DAVIS — IS YOU LOOSE? LAWS FOR ALL. 211 

" ' I Lad asked that I might be laid in my grave before 
I should see it, but God ordered otherwise, and I passed 
through the furnace, and, I hope, came out a better man. 
If you lose a son, you can bear it, for God has taken him 
home. But man tore my boys from me — and how much 
harder was the blow ! Knowing these things, can any- 
body wonder that God has brought about this w r ar \ I 
believe that God will destroy either slavery or this 
Union. 

"'And now it is asked, what was to be done with 
these sufferers ? ' Will you turn all these people loose V 
He would ask : ' Is you loose V We don't want to be 
any looser than you. If Colored people need more law, 
then put us under more law. Others say : ' These people 
can't take care of themselves.' Well, let them go. Some 
White people can't take care of themselves. We don't 
want to be treated any better than White men. If a 
White man or a Black man is too lazy to work, let him 
take the consequence.* But he asked nobody to take 
care of him. He had been taking care of his mistress and 
himself, too.' He gave an amusing account of his escape, 

or rather, of her escape from him. He said that she went 

• 

* It was a general remark at Beaufort, that no class of whites could be 
found that would work so constantly and quietly, with so little encourage- 
ment, as Superintendents were authorized to give to the frcedmen. And 
this is corroborated by official and other reports from every point where 
they have gained freedom. A deputation from the Baptist Missionary 
Society, London, Underbill and Brown, reported from Jamaica in 1801 
that such was the industry of their negroes that " three-fifths of the cul- 
tivated land in Jamaica was the bona fide property of the blacks;'' that 
tho sum total of their property was £2,358,000, an estimate which he 
ventured to say was far below the mark. There were 53,000, or one- 
eighth of the entire population communicants, and they raised eveiy 
year, for religious purposes, £28.000. The people were orderly, affec- 
tionate, and well-behaved. Similar proofs of industry could be adduced 
from every place where they have had a fair trial. 



242 SLAVERY IN SOUTH CAROLINA AND THE EX-SLAVES. 

away quite sanguine that Jeff. Davis would soon come 
back, and would do a great deal for her. Well, what 
has Jeif. done for her? ' She had a good house in Hamp- 
ton, and that was in ashes ; her servants were all gone 
away, and here — he said — is the best of them standing 
up here !' — [Exit, with tumultuous applause.]" 

But it is well known, that all systems of apprenticeship, 
or partial liberation, have been failures, and must be, in 
the very nature of the case. For how can a man learn to 
act as a free man until he is free? Impossible! But 
these people are self-reliant, having always been obliged 
to be, for, in most cases, all they receive from " Massah " 
is one pair of shoes per year, and six yards of bare cloth 
for a man, and eight for a woman, and the weekly peck of 
corn. This leaves all trimmings, and all comforts to be 
purchased by the weary slave, and paid for by night work, 
or, by work beyond the regular amounts required. 

Yet it is wonderful how they seize upon the least ad- 
vantages. So sure as one has been house servant, been 
from home, as servant, waiter, boatman, or in any capa- 
city, has had contact with men, it is instantly seen, 
for he adopts all possible improvements ; and if he con- 
siders himself a little extra, who does not, for some, and 
perhaps not as good a reason ? 

We believe there is not a people upon earth at this 
day, who live so respectably and honorably, in comparison 
to their advantages, as this. Certainly there is not one 
who make so great efforts and sacrifices for " 'specta- 
bility," comfort, and conscience. 

They work from the smallest inducements — mere 
rations and long-deferred promises — cheerfully and well, 
not averaging two in one hundred who do not, and on 
many plantations not one in all. But they cannot be ex- 
pected to work as freemen till they are made free. 



TESTIMONY OF PLANTERS IN BARBADOES. 243 

To give one illustration, -where multitudes might be 
adduced: 

Barbadoes has doubled the price of her lands since 
emancipation. Says the candid, Sewcll : "None are 
more ready than the planters to admit that the free 
laborer is a better, more cheerful and industrious workei 
than was ever the slave." But we give proof, and quote 
further from a published letter of Governor Ilincks, Jan- 
uary, 1858 : 

" As to the relative cost of slave and free labor in this 
colony, I can supply facts upon w r hich the most implicit 
reliance can be placed. They have been furnished to me 
by the proprietor of an estate containing three hundred 
acres of land, and situated at a distance of about twelve 
miles from the shipping port. The estate referred to pro- 
duced during slavery an annual average of 140 hogs- 
heads of sugar of the present weight, and required 230 
slaves. It is now worked by 90 free laborers : 60 adults, 
and 30 under 16 years of age. Its average product dur- 
ing the last seven years has been 191 hogsheads. The 
total cost of labor has been £770 16s., or £3 19s. 2d. per 
hogshead of 1,700 pounds. The average of pounds 
of sugar to each laborer during slavery was 1,043 
pounds, and during freedom 3,660 pounds ! ! To estimate 
the cost of slave-labor, the value of 230 slaves must be 
ascertained ; and I place them at what would have been 
a low average — £50 sterling each — which would make 
the entire stock amount to £11,500. This, at six per 
centT interest, which on such property is much too low an 
estimate, would give £690 ; cost of clothing, food, and 
medical attendance, I estimate at £3 10s., making £805. 
Total cost, £1,495, or £10 12s. per hogshead, while the 
cost of free labor on the same estate is under £4 !" 

In 1853, the French committee charged by the Gover- 



214 SLAVERY IN SOUTH CAROLINA AND THE EX-SLATES. 

nor of Martinique to visit the island, reported that " in an 
agricultural aud manufacturing- point of view the aspect 
of Barbadoes is dazzling." 

In Trinidad or British Guiana the negroes were not 
obliged by competition to submit to the obnoxious tenure ; 
and they soon found, where land was so cheap, that a path 
to independence hay open before them in working their 
own little properties. The planters became more stub- 
born and more rigid, and the result was, in many cases, 
the absolute abandonment of large estates for want of 
labor. 

" The industry of the Barbadoes population is shown 
in the fact, that, out of the 106,000 acre3 of the island, 
100,000 are under cultivation,* while the average price 
of land rises to the unprecedented height of five hundred 
dollars an acre=" 

" Notwithstanding the high price of land and the low 
rate of wages, the freed slaves have increased the number 
of small proprietors with less than five acres, from 1 ,100 
to 3,537,t during the last fifteen years — an increase which 
alone testifies to the remarkable thrift of the emancipated 
Negro in Barbadoes." 

Mr. Sewell has talked with all classes and conditions, 
and says, " none are more ready to admit than the planters 
that the free laborer is a better, more cheerful, and indus- 
trious workman than was ever the slave." 

" The Colored mechanics and artisans of Barbadoes," 
says the same author, " are equal in general intelligence 
to the artisans and mechanics of any part of the world 
equally remote from the great centres of civilization. 
The peasantry will soon equal them, when education is 
more generally diffused." 

If facts will convince men, surely these must do it, and 
* Sckomburg. f Governor Hiucks. 



HATEED OF TINGS DAT 'pEAE BAD — NOTABLES COLOEED. 245 

equal facts might be given from every place where eman- 
cipation has been declared. But were they unfitted for 
freedom, what has done it ? Slavery ! and shall the 
cause be continued 2 

But the mass are not unfitted. They could easily dis- 
pense with the White man. They easily influence each 
other from their peculiar susceptibility to flattery, criti- 
cism, ridicule, their " oncommon hatred of tings dat 
'pear bad," their love of money and comfort. 

Many plantations were doing as well as " befo' Massah 
run away." All work good, subject to the driver, a slave 
like themselves. The reverse was true in some cases, but 
very few. "Whites in this climate could not dispense with 
them. They could not cultivate and pick the cotton. 
The notables are all Colored. The *' pilot whose keel 
never touches bottom " amid all these obstructions and 
sand bars, is Colored. The man who, on every planta- 
tion, knows how, when, where to do all desired work, 
is Colored. The guide is always Colored. The nurse, that 
rivals physicians here, is Colored, etc., etc. In short, in 
this climate, the Colored, is the ultimatum for advice in 
all practical matters pertaining to the country and climate. 

Besides, he is on most intimate terms, with nature, 
seeming related to bird, insect, herb, flower, and per- 
fectly familiar with their names, habits, uses. At least, 
they answered our many inquiries promptly, and with 
real fondness, for nature, as her youngest petted sons. 
Ah, she has taken them to her own heart, and amid their 
anguish she has opened to them her treasures of herbs, 
and roots, and healing leaves, to soothe their agonies'. 
Yes, she even gives them a root, for soap, against the 
Master's avarice, or poverty. Ton seem to come into 
her real presence, and favor, more, while led by them. 



CHAPTEE XLY. 

APPRECIATION OF ALL MEN. 

Give me to love ray fellow, and in love, 

If with none other grace to chant ray strain, 

Sweet keynote of soft cadences above, 
Sole star of solace in life's night of pain. 

Ralph Hoyt. 

"Where is the love of our neighbor, as ourself, mani- 
fested for the Colored ? "What writer, incidentally or 
spontaneously, shows it ? He may plead for those mere 
rights, which, after all, it is little to accord to a man — it 
would be very little for your friends to accord to you, 
you would think, reader — he may even plead the excel- 
lence of his character, the absolute fact, that he is a child 
of God. But where is the writer, who alludes to the 
Colored, with the fondness, of true, Christian love ? Fond- 
ness ! you say, do you require fondness ? "What does 
the Word of God require ? Have you not fondness 
toward yourself ? and "thou shalt love thy neighbor as 
thyself!" Yes, we do say fondness, Christian fondness. 
And we further say, there is no writer who comes even 
up to the general, popular, Christian heart upon this 
point. "Whereas many, alas ! we must say, most, show a 
positive aversion, instead of love. Sometimes, this 
appears an effort to cater to the depravity of readers, or, 
to keep them assured of their candor, and freedom from 
bias, toward the Negro, or, in other words, freedom from 
pure Christian love toward him. 

246 



THE SOUTH UPON LOVING THE NEGRO — EXPERIENCE. 247 

The South throws this, into our teeth, and justly, for, 
after all their base oppression, it is true as they assert, 
that there is an appreciation of the Negro South that is 
wanting North. This has grown out of actual knowledge 
of hirn, actual benefits derived from his mental powers 
and acquisitions, from his knowledge of nature practi- 
cally, of herbs, and the forces and laws of life in 
animals, including man, of his sagacity, indomitable 
patience in pursuing an object, his devotion to the child, 
or family he loves ; in short, to his adaptation to emer- 
gencies, his superior skill in devising, and executing, but 
above all, his actual wisdom, growing out of his almost 
invariable piety, and, consequently, his seeing light in 
the light of God, and his spiritual power with God, in 
great needs. For instance, the life of the child is given 
back to the fond mother, in answer to the prayers of the 
poor slave. Her own soul is sustained, or even con- 
verted, through obvious answers to his intercessions. In 
short, in all the prostration, and tending to weakness, to 
awful depression, yea to imbecility, produced by the 
system of slavery, he is the crutch, which the hand can- 
not hold, without leaning upon it, and, having done so, 
it has a knowledge of it, which inspires valuation, yea, 
demands the support of it, however it may wrong him, 
in his own person, or soul. So, that the Negro, actually 
comes to be virtual head of the house, in many instances, 
from his acknowledged power, and adaptation to the ever 
new wants, and emergencies, of families. And his occa- 
sional arid barbarous floggings do not touch that power, 
for it is graven and grounded in the experience, of every 
member. His Master, this Negro often treats, as keepers 
do bears, avoiding adroitly his power, but actually govern- 
ing, and leading him in many things by his superior 
skill, or superior knowledge, we might say, for this man 



248 SLAVERY IN SOUTH CAROLINA AND THE EX-SLAVES. 

knows most, of practical things, yes, his Master ,better than 
that Master knows himself. Or, he can foresee what 
course he will take under given circumstances, better 
than he, and, in spite of promises, or threats. So, upon 
his actual qualities, and adaptation to the wants of all, 
the inequalities of all, his appreciation, of the whims, 
tastes, feelings of all, he is recognized, as the helper, yes, 
the sympathizer, the comforter, of all. In short, he is 
known as he is not at the North, and scarcely can be, and 
that he is appreciated, is owing simply to what he proves 
himself to be, and it would be far greater North, were he 
equally known there. 

These writers are not, perhaps, to be censured. They 
have written under so strong an influence, an imper- 
ceptible spell cast upon the North,, by slaveholders, that, 
to have expected more were unreasonable. It was not 
unreasonable to expect a largeness of mind, in Humboldt, 
Miller, Wesley ; "Watson, Edwards, Washington, Wilber- 
force, to estimate the Negro. But, to expect that large- 
ness, from the common mind, were unreasonable, except, 
it be the product of grace, which, in actual appreciation 
of excellence, raises the commonest mind, above the 
philosopher. But where, out of the South, with all its 
faults, does actual, pure, Christian, love for the Colored 
show itself? We do not mean where is the pompous 
minister, that can work himself by the fire of his own 
eloquence into a heat that he actually mistakes for this 
love, and which we would not undervalue ; but where is 
the incidental fondness ever leaking out like water from 
a full vat? We answer. It is in the military. Watch, 
scrutinize, the references, to the " contrabands" by nearly 
CYQry one, who has come into actual contact, or acquain- 
tance with them, or who has even stood aloof, upon the 
spot, and seen their capacity, skill, shrewdness, valor, or 






Paul's standard — many lives saved by them:. 219 

their patience, industry, fidelity. But this appreciation, 
though founded, at first, upon cold knowledge, becomes 
warm, and genuine, and permanent, and must continue 
more and more so, as time rolls on, and events develop 
true qualities. 

As to the aversion, of many Christian writers, and speak- 
ers, for the Colored, we will, reader, you and I, "leave all 
that with the Lord," determined, by grace, not to diso- 
bey HIM, OR DAMAGE OUR OWN SOULS, BY JUDGING THEM. 

But, we will rejoice, that so many are coming near 
to the blessed Apostle Paul, in the spirit which he 
showed respecting the Colored Onesimus, when he said, 
" Receive hum as myself, and if he hath wronged thee, 
or oweth thee aught, set that to mine account." Increas- 
ing sensible, manly, scriptural, Christian ; love for the 
Colored, is a great feature of the times, and it must 
increase in proportion as knowledge of God, and of them, 
increases, inevitably. 

And this knowledge of the Negro does, and will, in- 
crease^ Every letter from the soldier in the South 
spreads it, and will, more and more, as the war deepens 
and the sickly season comes on. And many will know 
that their lives are saved, through the care of these 
former slaves. We beseech all such, to be far more atten- 
tive to the dear soldier, they speak so much of, than they 
ever were to their old enemy of a master. Now, is a 
chance for them to show the army what they are, to raise 
a wave of gratitude, and appreciation, and love in all the 
"Whites, that shall sweep away the prejudice created by 
the most persistent efforts of lying masters, and their 
tools, of mean Northerners. 

And, permit us to say, let every soldier, while in 
health, get some Colored man under an obligation, or 
promise to see to him, when sick, and assure him of his 

11* 



250 SLAVERY IN SOUTH CAROLINA AND THE EX-SLAVES. 

wish tliat he shall do so, his expectation that he will. 
Next to our Heavenly Father, we leave ours, in that lati- 
tude, in the care of " Aunt Mary." We trust her next to 
him, and we know she will be faithful. They understand 
the care, the nursing, and bathing in tepid soap and water ; 
the gentle stimulants of perspiration, far more important 
than medicine in those fevers. Their nursing will save 
many lives that strong medicines would destroy. A ge- 
neral in the South, seeing the good effects of " Composi- 
tion," sent to New York for five pounds ! and considers 
it a sure remedy, with bathing, for fevers there. 

But, to return, speaking of affection for the Colored, 
let them, we beseech them as their friend, not fail to 
secure it, in every possible way. They are proverbially 
hospitable, and now, the dear soldier, whom they so 

love is THE STRANGER WITHIN THEIR GATES, whom the 

Lord commands them to care for. But as examples, as 
instances of Negro hospitality, also as illustrations of their 
native character, we give the following : 

CHRISTIAN KINDNESS IN AN AFRICAN. 

"In one of my early journeys," says Moffat, "with 
some of my companions, we came to a heathen village on 
the banks of the* Orange Biver. "We had travelled far, 
and were hungry, thirsty, and fatigued. From the fear 
of being exposed to lions, we preferred remaining at the 
village to proceeding during the night. The people at 
the village, rather roughly, directed us to halt at a dis- 
tance. We asked water, but they would not supply it. I 
offered the three or four buttons which still remained on 
my jacket for a little milk ; this also was refused. We 
had the prospect of another hungry night at a distance 
from water, though within sight of the river. We found 



THE FOUNTAIN — OIL NEGRESS KINDNESS — ROOT OF IT. 251 

it difricult to reconcile ourselves to our lot ; for, in addi- 
tion to repeated rebuffs, the manner of the villagers ex- 
cited suspicion. 

" When twilight drew on, a woman approached from 
the height, beyond which the village lay. She bore on 
her head a bundle of wood, and had a vessel of milk in 
her hand. The latter, without opening her lips, she 
handed to us, laid down the wood, and returned to the 
village. A second time she approached with a cooking- 
vessel on her head, and a leg of mutton in one hand, and 
water in the other. She sat down, without saying a 
word, prepared the fire, and put on the meat. "We asked 
her again and again who she was. She remained, silent,' 
till affectionately entreated to give us a reason for such un- 
looked-for kindness to strangers. The solitary tear stole 
down her sable cheek when she replied, ' I love Him 
whose servant you are; and surely it is my duty to give 
you a cup of cold water in his name. My heart is full ; 
therefore I cannot speak the joy I feel to see you in this 
out-of-the-world place.' 

"On learning a little of her history, and that she was a 
solitary light, burning in a dark place, I asked her how 
she kept up the life of God in her soul, in the entire ab- 
sence of the communion of saints. She drew from her 
bosom a copy of the Dutch K"ew Testament which she 
had received from Mr. Ilelme, when in his school some 
years previous, before she had been compelled by her 
connections to retire to her present seclusion. 'This,' she 
said, ' is the fountain whence I drink ; this is the oil which 
makes my lamp burn.' 

" I looked on the precious relic, printed by the British 
and Foreign Bible Society; and the reader may conceive 
how I felt, and my believing companions with me, when 
we met with this disciple, and mingled our sympathies 



252 SLAVERY IN SOUTH CAROLINA AND THE EX-SLAVES. 

and prayers together at the throne of our Heavenly Pa- 
ther." 

THE HOSPITABLE NEGRO WOMAN. 

The enterprising traveller, Mungo Park, was employed 
by the African Association, to explore the interior re- 
gions of Africa, in which he encountered many dangers 
and difficulties. His wants were often supplied, and his 
distresses alleviated, by the kindness and compassion of 
the Negroes. He gives the following interesting account 
of the hospitable treatment he received from a poor 'Ne- 
gro woman : 

" Being arrived at Sego, the capital of the kingdom 
of Bambarra, on the Niger, I wished to pass over to that 
part of the town in which the king resides. The people 
who crossed the river, carried information to Mansong, 
the king, that a White man was coming to see him. He 
immediately sent one of his chief men, who informed 
me that the king could not possibly see me, until he 
knew what had brought me into his country. He ad- 
vised me to lodge for the night in a village to which he 
pointed. As there was no remedy, I set off for the vil- 
lage ; where I found, to my great mortification, no per- 
son would admit me into his house. From prejudices 
infused into their minds,- 1 was regarded with astonish- 
ment and fear ; and was obliged to sit the whole day 
without victuals, in the shade of a tree. 

" The night threatened to-be very uncomfortable ; the 
wind rose, and there was great appearance of a heavy 
rain. The wild beasts, too, were very numerous in the 
neighborhood, that I should have been under the neces- 
sity of climbing up the tree, and resting among the 
branches. About sun-set, however, as I was preparing 
to pass the night in this manner, and had turned my 



KINDNESS TO MUNGO PARK — LABORING ALL NIGHT. 253 

horse loose, that he might graze at liberty, a Negro wo- 
man, returning from the labors of the fidd, stopped to 
observe me ; and perceiving that I was weary and de- 
jected, inquired into my situation. I briefly explained 
it to her ; after which, with looks of great compassion, 
she took up my saddle and bridle, and told me to follow 
her. Having conducted me into her hut, she lighted a 
lamp, spread a mat on the floor, and told me 1 might re- 
main there for the night. Finding I was very hungry, 
she went out to procure me something to eat ; and re- 
turned in a short time with a very fine fish, which, 
having caused to be half broiled upon some embers, she 
gave me for supper. The rights of hospitality being thus 
performed toward a stranger in distress, my worthy 
benefactress (pointing to the mat, and telling me I might 
sleep there without apprehension) called to the female 
part of her family, who had stood gazing on me all the 
while in astonishment, to resume their task of spinning 
cotton ; in which they continued to employ themselves 
great part of the night. 

" They lightened their labor by songs, one of which 
was composed extempore : for I was myself the subject 
of it. It was sung by one of the young women, the rest 
joining in a chorus. The air was sweet and plaintive, 
and the words literally translated, were these : — ' The 
winds roared and the rain fell. The poor "White man, 
faint and weary, came and sat under our tree. He has 
no mother to bring him milk — no wife to grind his corn.' 
Chorus. ' Let us pity the White man ; no mother has he 
to bring him milk — no wife to grind his corn.' " 

It were improper to spe'ak of the new tenderness for 
the colored, in manj r of the most noble while living, but 
let the noble and dead Mitchell speak, who is now 
present with the Lamb who was slain for each per- 



254 slavery ra south Carolina and the ex-slaves. 

sonally of these dark brethren. We copy a few words 
from his letter to Sec. Chase, aud one of his speeches 
to the people while in command at Port Royal ; ' 

" I have spoken to the elite of Boston — the solid, and 
the scientific, and the literary men of that learned city ; 
I have spoken to the fashionable crowds of New-York 
in the Academy of Music ; I have spoken to the rich 
and proud citizens of New-Orleans ; I have spoken to 
multitudes in every State in the Union, but i" do not 
think 1 ever addressed any audience whose presence 
touched me more deeply than the sable multitude to 
whom I endeavored to utter words of encouragement and 
hope yesterday. And, my dear Governor, they are en- 
couraged, and they do hope ; and I feel that it is 
possible to convert the officers and soldiers from their 
unjust and ungenerous prejudices, and to make them 
the firm, fast, sympathizing friends of those unfortu- 
nate blacks. Already I find a very great change, and 
some of my thinking officers, who were most gloomy 
and most despondent when I first arrived, are now full 
of cheerful hope. With your past life I fully sympa- 
thise. I know and understand it all. I was reared in 
the midst of slavery, born in Kentucky, and know all 
about it, 

" But it seems to me that there is a new time coming 
for you colored people ; a better day is dawning for 
you oppressed and down-trodden blacks. You have in 
your hands the rescuing of those sufferers over whose 
sorrows you mourn continually. If you fail, what a 
dreadful responsibility it will be when you come to die, 
to feel that the only great opportunity you had for 
serving yourselves and your oppressed race was allowed 
to slip." 



CHAPTER XLYI. 

THE WASTE OF LIFE. 

And what is life ? a weaxy pilgrimage, 
Whosa glory in one day doth fill the stage 
With childhood, manhood and decrepit age. 

QuAKLIiS. 

This waste of life is amazing, and can only be accounted 
for, even allowing for Southern lack of thrift, by the fact 
that the work of the plantation must be in the care of 
overseers, or drivers. The following description of 
" overseers " is from William Wirt's Life of Patrick 
Henry: " Last and lowest (?". <?., of the different classes 
of society in Virginia), a feculum of beings called over- 
seers / the most abject, degraded, unprincipled race, 
always cap in hand to the Dons who employed them, 
and furnishing materials for the exercise of their pride, 
insolence, and spirit of domination." From this descrip- 
tion we see in what hands human life is there. Besides, 
the infant is worth more to the Master, but the woman's 
work is usually worth more to the overseer or driver. 
This fact is recognized by the Master, often giving those 
dignitaries a premium, as is well known, for every living 
child. What volumes does this one fact speak, to him 
who can, and will think ! 

But the labor of the poor mother is worth, in the 
present, far more than the anticipated premium, the 
profits, being all that is considered, usually. This is illus 

265 



256 SLAVERY IN SOUTH CAROLINA AND THE EX- SLAVES. 

trated by facts, collected by close scrutiny of twenty-five 
plantations. 

One-tbird of tbe poor ex-slave women bave lost one- 
balf tbeir children, two-thirds bave lost one-tbird, and so 
on. Many bave lost all. 

Said we to one : " Have yon no children ?" 

" No, Missus, bad to leab baby 'e in house all clay 
while gone to work." 

" Not alone ?" 

" Yes, Missus, 'lone, couldn't help it, 'bliged to do it." 

" Why bow did you fix it ?" 

" Hang it up dere in de basket, an' boil some flou' for 
it. It cry all day, an' I cry all day," said tbe mother, 
her eyes filling, and not hers only, " an' be die, 'cause he 
cry so. No nuss on dis plantation ; all works." Now 
can a woman, a mother, read this, and not weep, with 
that poor mother, and not vow eternal vengeance upon 
slavery ? No surely, surely, not. 

Another woman said : 

" I los' tree ; got not one ; fretted self almos' to deff." 

" What disease had they i" 

" No disease, ma'am, only fretted to deff in 'e basket." 

" In tbe basket ?" 

" Yes, Missus ; when little, put um in basket an' take 
urn to de fiel'. Dey cry all day, but you not stop, or be 
cut up. Sometimes, if driver not see you, you run wet 
it mouf a little ; make shade ober with some cloth, shade 
go off, sun make um sick. If he see you, you get lick." 

Mother, sitting by your dear cradled one; Father, who 
amid all thebustle of business, sees, mentally, that beautiful 
wife and babe at home — pray stop reading, and imagine 
that equally tender mother, with breaking heart, and 
no, no, hope, toiling under a burning sun, upon scorching 
sands, fifteen hours per day, with tbe feeble wail of her 



DYING IN BASKET SLAVERY IN POLITICAL SCALES. 257 

famishing dying babe, in her ear, or, faint and fainter in 
the distance, its little body, in all the agony of confine- 
ment in the basket, in the torrid sun, with burning thirst. 
Can you realize it ? and that, when that poor mother had 
lost two, four, six, in the same way, precisely. Oh Blessed 
Jesus, who didst take little ones in thine arms, and bless 
them ! Is there womanhood in woman ? Is there tender- 
ness in these mother's hearts? How then can one be 
silent ? or even moderate, in opposing this awful sin % 
But slavery cannot exist without all this, never does, far 
South, and even then it does not pay, even in a pecuniary 
point of view. Oh, would the mothers of our land rise in 
their dignity ! "Will they not ? Statesmen, editors, in 
some instances, have come down to put this awful system 
into political scales, obliged perhaps in some respects to 
do so, to refute its advocates. But all humanity, prin- 
ciple, manhood, religion, is wronged, when so sacred a 
question is put to such tests. We might as well discuss 
the propriety of killing all people at a certain age, from 
pecuniary considerations, as to discuss slavery, pecuni- 
arily, or as if we would retain it, were it profitable. Oh, 
let noble men everywhere, let woman at the sacred 
home-table, hearth, altar, place and keep it upon the high 
noble grounds of eternal right. Noble ones are crushed 
under the awful scourge ; we too. Will you help, or 
shall we die ? We feel as we cannot live, if slavery be 
not put away. 

" But I should think," said we, " if your Master had 
no mercy, he would rather raise the children, and sell 
them." 

" Oh ! yes, Missus, he want to do 'at, but den 'e work 
so tight, he not tink baby die, till gone, an' he drive we 
so hard. Massah make we go in fiel' an' work when 
baby dead in house. O ! Massah hate us so." 



258 slavery in south Carolina and the ex-slaves. 



But after all aspects of slavery here, the recklessness in 
regard to life is still the most astonishing feature. But 
the overseers are usually interested only in the present 
crop, not in the lives of slaves. The Master is away, 
mostly, or is too self-indulgent, of course, to see before 
light, who is able to work ; besides it would break up all 
order, to allow that any are unable. 

The general testimony is : 

" Massah not let you speak to him." " Massah not let 
you speak to driver 'bout de chil'n ; can't do nothing." 

But the poor Master, under the pressure of all the dif- 
ficulties and all the vices of the soul consequent upon his 
false relation to these poor laborers, pushes and pushes 
on the work, occasioning the deaths of many, to his own 
surprise, in many cases. 

Calling yesterday, we found in one stall — for we can 
call many of the quarters in Beaufort nothing else — 
three women. After other conversation, we said to one 
woman : " How many children have you ?" 

" None, had fou', all dead." The other had lost all. 

" Why, of what disease ?" 

" Hard work, strainin' so in fiel'." 

" Awful ! how long did they live ?" 

" None of them fou' weeks." 

" Well you have got them in heaven, as you are a 
Christian." 

" Oh, yes, Missus." - 

" But you Colored women do not seem to mourn so 
much for your children who die, though you are so very 
fond of those who live." 

" No, Missus." 

" I suppose you consider what a life of sorrow they 
escape, and what a joy they enter ?" 

" Some women frets awful, some frets self to death, 



INFANT SPIRITS — MEAN NOT TO BE CHRISTIAN. 259 



good many. But if it please de Lord to take rim, don't 
mourn when dcy gone." 

" What do your masters say ?" 

".Some scolds and says dey kill urn, 'cause so care- 
less." 

" Do you think they are careless ?" 
" No, Missus, de baby neber well, neber." 
" Oh what a beautiful thought, that such a number of 
infant spirits are all the time going up from this hard 
land, to be 

Forever with the Lord, 

and to wait there, for their poor mothers, for nearly all 
these mothers are Christians, are they not ?" 

" Most all, Missus, couldn't live if wasn't." 

" You ! my poor woman," speaking to another, " not 
a Christian ! and you have two there, and none here, and 
' except you be converted, you cannot see the kingdom 
of God.' " 

" It's very mean," said she, " not to be Christian and 
serve de Lord, when hab dis good time, dis liberty." 

" Oh ! if I could only show you how easy it is to come 
to Jesus, how he stands waiting for you to come !" 

But alas, some who had been noble, and happy, sink 
to the level of their oppressors. O ! womanhood, how 
robbed, despoiled, and worse, sometimes, degraded. But 
however it may sink under the influence of love, or decep- 
tion, for a time, womanhood will assert itself, even when 
all that dignified it is gone. It will be a terrible thorn, 
where it cannot be a growth. 



CHAPTER XLYH. 



INGRATITUDE. 



Since nothing is more odious to all than ingratitude, 
no effort has been spared by pro-slaveryists to brand 
the poor Negro with it. But the exact contrary is the 
fact. This all will aver who have dealt with them South. 
Their whole theme now is grateful recapitulation of 
their mercies. Indeed, if they err it is surely on the 
side of excess of showing gratitude. For one instance: 

A poor woman said, "I so happy, now ; work so 
peaceful ; I have to drop courtesy as I go 'long in fiel', 
and raise hands so, and say, ' T'ank you, Lord! T'ank 
you, Jesus ! for 'is good time of freedom.' " 

Nothing could have made us so ashamed of our poor 
efforts for them, as to see their unbounded gratitude, ex- 
pressed in prayers, for " dese dear, kind Massahs and 
Missusses, 'at came so far for teach we, lef ' deir homes, 
and chil'n, and companions, and come to 'is poor heathen 
nation, to teach we, and care for we, and help we;" 
also their fervent prayers that we " may all be spared 
to reach home 'gin, and see dem all in peace and love, 
and we and dey suffer no damage for all 'ey do for we." 
In all their prayers, the first earthly blessing named is 
" dis liberty, 'is opportunity, 'ese kind teachers 'at suffer 
so much for we." And just in proportion as these 
teachers are tilled with true discernment, wisdom, and 
piety to appreciate them, do they seem to perceive their 
true manliness, and worth, and piety. But their grati- 
tude is active, and shown to the extent of their power. 



WE POOR HEATHEN ALL SOLD — KIND ACT — BOUQUETS. 261 

For instance : A woman of SO comes running to the 

carriage, as you leave a plantation and lifting her poor, 
bony hand, says, k * Will Missus please 'cept dese fou 1 eggs, 
all [could get?" 

We say, " My poor dear woman, you need them more 
than we." 

" Oh, no, Missus, I neber eats urn, neber. Please take 
urn. Present, Missus, present !" 

" "Well, then, you must let me make you a present of 
this bit of silver." 

" Oil, no, Missus ! You so kind, come and care for 
we, wben we so poor and so ignorant. Poor heathen 
nation. Don't know nothing. Nothing but Jesus. He 
all we got, nothing else. Chil'n all sold, gone. Ole 
man gone, neber see 'em no mo', neber ! neber ! in 'is 
worl' ! But Jesus wid ura dere. He see urn all time. 
He ebery where. He can save ura. We trust him. O, 
we trusts his promises, Missus ! It's true what you say, 
we shall soon be home with God. But, poor ole Massah, 

O, MisSUS, WHAT DE LORD GWINE TO SAT TO HIM EST 'AT DAT 

'bout what he done to we, all dese long years, all life, 
all whole life, Missus ?" 

Still the least kind act of either Massah or Missus 
is dwelt upon in a way that shows most touchingly how 
little they expected, and just as if it had not been for 
their own interest. None seem satisfied with words 
of gratitude, but must give something ; and children un- 
bidden run and pick beautiful bouquets, and present 
them most politely, and gratefully. Indeed, gratitude 
seems a specialty in their characters. As instances : 

ANTHONT WILLIAM AMO, 

The talented, the scholar, the filial, the grateful, was 
born in Guinea, was brought to Europe when very 



262 SLAVERY EST SOUTH CAROLINA AND THE EX-SLAVES. 

young ; and the Princess of "Brunswick took charge of 
his education. He pursued his studies at Halle, in Sax- 
ony, and at Wittemberg ; and so distinguished himself 
by his talents and good conduct, that the Eector and 
Council of the University of the last mentioned town, 
gave a public testimony to them in a letter of congratu- 
lation. 

Aino, skilled in the knowledge of the Latin and Greek 
languages, delivered with success, private lectures on 
philosophy, which are highly praised in the same letter. 
In an abstract, published by the Dean of the Philosophi- 
cal Faculty, it is said of this learned Negro, that having 
examined the systems of the ancients and moderns, he 
selected and taught all that was best of them. Besides 
his knowledge of Latin and Greek, he spoke Hebrew, 
French, Dutch, and German, and was well versed in as- 
tronomy. 

In 1774, Amo published dissertations on some subjects 
which obtained the approbation of the University of 
Wittemberg, and the degree of Doctor was conferred 
upon him. The title of one of these was " Dissertio in- 
auguralis philosophica de humanae mentis AI1A0EIA :" 
etc., etc. 

Another was entitled " Disputatio philosophica," etc. 

At the conclusion of these works are letters of appro- 
bation from the Eector of the University of Wittem- 
berg, who, in speaking of one of them, says : " It un- 
derwent no change, because it was well executed ; and 
indicates a mind exercised in reflection." In a letter 
addressed to him by the president, he styles Amo, " vir 
nobilissime et clarissime." Thus the University of 
Wittemberg has not evinced a belief in the absurd 
prejudice which exists against the Colored portion of 
mankind. 



AMO MADE COUNSELLOR — RECLUSE FROM GRTEF. 263 

The Court of Berlin conferred upon Amo the title 
of Counsellor of State, but after the death of his 
benefactress, the Princess of Brunswick, Amo fell into 
a profound melancholy, and resolved to leave Europe, in 
which he bad resided for 30 years, and to return to the 
place of his birth at Axim, on the Gold Coast. There 
he received, in 1TS3, a visit from the intelligent traveller, 
David Henry Gallaudat, who mentions him in the Me- 
moirs of the Academy of Flessingue, of which he was a 
member. Amo, at that time about fifty years of age, 
led the life of a recluse. His father and a sister were 
living with him, and he had a brother who was a slave 
in Surinam. Some time after, it appears, he left Axim, 
and settled at Chama. 

The Abbe Gregoire, from whose work the foregoing 
particulars are translated, says, that he made unavailing 
researches to ascertain whether Amo published any other 
works, or at what period he died. 

Here we see this fine scholar, talented and caressed, 
become a recluse through excess of grief for his patron. 
Such instances, seldom adorn human records. Two 
other instances, must, where hundreds might be given : 

GRATEFUL SLAVES. 

" The more I have seen of the Negroes in Jamaica," 
writes Dr. Madden, " and observed their conduct, the 
more reason I have to think that they are naturally a 
good-humored, easily-contented, kind-hearted race, am- 
ply disposed to appreciate kind treatment and to be 
grateful for it. Of their disposition to appreciate bene- 
fits, even in the trifling way I have endeavored to be 
serviceable to them, by protecting them from injustice to 
the best of my poor ability, I have had proofs enough 



264: SLAVERY IN SOUTH CAROLINA AND THE EX-SLAVES. 

of their grateful feelings toward me. One poor fellow 
of the name of Cochrane came to me the other day to 
take leave of me : I had never rendered him the slightest 
service, but I had been civil to him, and he had been in 
the habit of coming to my house. He took leave of me 
with tears in his eyes : Dr. Chamberlaine was present : 
he took me aside and put a paper into my hand, which 
he said was a small present, which he hoped I would 
accept, to think of him when I was gone. I opened the 
paper, and to my surprise, I found it contained three 
Spanish doubloons (equal to £10 sterling). I cannot de- 
scribe what I felt in assuring this poor Negro I did not 
need his gold to remember him and his race with kindly 
feelings. It was with difficulty I could prevail on him to 
take it back. He turned away abruptly from me, and 
that night I had a kid sent to me, which he sent me 
word he hoped might be of use to me on my voyage 
home. 

" Two days ago, an old man, whom I had never seen 
before, entered the gate as I was going out, and ad- 
dressed me in Arabic, he was a native of Africa, and 
he presented a pair of ducks, which he said he brought 
for me a long way, to make part of my sea stock. He 

SEEMED TO THINK I WAS A FRIEND TO HIS COUNTRYMEN, 

and he wished to prove to me that he was grateful 
for it. I accepted the old man's ducks, with more grati- 
fication than, perhaps, a European minister ever felt at 
receiving a diamond snuff-box from the Sultan. In short, 
for the last week, 1 have been receiving more presents 
of fruit and poultry than I know what to do with. In 
every instance in which I have been able to render any 
service to a Negro, I have found him mindful of it, and 
far more grateful for it than I could have expected." 
There is here, all the outgushing of woman's heart, in 



GKATEFCL OUTGUSIUNG HEART — NOT 'bLIGED FOR STEAL. 265 

gratitude, in all conversation. One was rapturously speak- 
ing of liberty j pure life, peace, the happiness of working in 
peace, with no fear of the lash, and of haVing comforta- 
ble food, and of " not being 'bliged for steal, no need for 
steal, etc." When the lady said: "Well, it is always 
against the law of God to steal. But, poor things, I sup- 
pose you know but little of the Bible." " O yes," said she, 
with all the true ambition of woman, " O yes, we does. 
Preacher teach us catechims. He teach us ' Thou shalt 
not steal,' * Thou shalt not commit adulters,' ' Thou shalt 
not jump thy neighbor's fences, nor his gates/ : 

But how will the heroes of this dire war, the work of 
slaveholders, be sung by Africa, through ages, with all her 
fervor, her vivid fancy and realization, her unutterable 
gratitude and love ? That life is not lost, which so blesses 
a nation, which is yet to be, which is to introduce a higher, 
purer Christian love, and life, into the great mass. Af- 
rica is to administer, as a channel, the Christian graces 
to the world. The first fruits are appearing ! the harvest 
will come ! Will come, as sure as there is a God above 
us, when the little " one shall become a thousand," and 
the small one a strong nation. 

But their unutterable gratitude, for those who fight, and 
die, in this holy war, which God hath assured their 
hearts, is for their liberation, their prayers, that every 
soul may be saved, are most touching, and are answered 
in the salvation of multitudes in their last moments 
assuredly ; for these dear people speak to God, right from 
his bosom. And when the lone breaking heart, at home, 
feels resignation, love, bathing' it, as sunlight the lily, in 
the lone dark dell, it is often in answer to them. Oh, 
how sad that such noble men sleep cold in death ! upon the 
battle-field, while vile, traitorous self-servers live ! But 
Jesus died. H,erod, Pilate, wolfish high priests, lived. 

12 



CHAPTER XLYIII. , 



IS WOMAN WOMAN 5 



I 



Pekhaps some may think, we now pen an unnecessary 
chapter. Perhaps there are none, or very few, who 
doubt, woman. But if there are a few such, should not 
their woes be assuaged ? They are found in high life, so 
called, where leisure leaves the heart to chafe at feeding 
or emptiness. But, should such read this, should one, 
who exclaims in secret soul, " modesty is a lie," " love is 
a fable," " truth of soul is a dream," " political ambition, 
scheming and planning, low intrigue, slanderous gossip, 
concealed but active hatred, variance, wrath, strife, 
envyings, murders, of the dearer self, adulteries of the 
heart, at least, are the true realities." — if contact with the 
mere fashionable, of either sex, but especially woman, 
has given gigantic power to sore temptation to believe 
so ; if that power has been intensified by disappointment, 
hollowness, rivalry ; or anguish, by defeat in the war of 
social life, from those who used weapons in the contest, 
so mean and low, that you could not stoop to engage 
them, or oven to ward them off; to all such we say take 
heart ! Rejoice ! Woman is woman yet. It is a fact. 
Rejoice ! or if you are yet incredulous, come to South 
Carolina, rather than go * Springs, Mountains, Falls, or 
Sea sides. Here, you will see woman, uncultivated in 
some respects, it is true, but, she is woman. True 
she accords to the white man a power which, in some 
cases, is dishonored. True, from the intense capabilities 
of love of her heart, ever poor woman's first betrayer, 



VICTIM TO HER HEART — TENDERNESS — SORROW DEFEATED. 2G7 

she falls an easier victim, a more deeply duped victim. 
True, her love is such, in some cases, as in her fair sisters, 
as almost to deprive her of free agency, in treatment of 
the adored, simply because she cannot wound one, so 
dear, even though her soul pay the forfeit, which is -the 
case with nine-tenths of the fallen — and O ! were it re- 
alized, with how much more tenderness, and of course 
success, would they he treated, — still, admitting all 
this, woman is a thousand-fold more modest, pure, self- 
forgetful, loving, tender, true, devoted, in genuine love, 
than has ever, ever ! been said or sung. "We absolutely 
feel like one who has found a choice treasure. "We shall 
ever, against all appearances and cavils, honor, and trust, 
and revere, woman, more, for observation and close inves- 
tigation here. * 

The veil of artificialities is so thin, that all the soul 
shines out — self-sacrificing, loving, sacred, in short, with 
all her great nature, renewed by grace. In some cases 
they know that Massah, or Missus, is opposed to slavery, 
and is only a victim to it, with themselves, then, their 
devotion to them, is wonderful, and most resembles that 
of the tender parent for the suffering child. Could they 
be honorably hired by their former masters, there would 
be no bounds to their devotion, to their exertions, and 
successes, short of impossibilities. Oh, that the nation 
were wise ! Oh, that it would fear God alone, stand 
with God alone, in relation to these, his peculiar people ! 

Yes, poor woman here, defeats her sorrow by patience, 
the life that now is, by realization of that which is to 
come, the wounds of ojypression by the balm of divine 
Love. Oh woman ! how lovely, where you see not the 
trappings, not the conventionalities, not the premeditated 
course of demeanor, but woman's naked, renewed heart. 
But their dwelling out of, above earth, while bearing its 



268 SLAVERY IN SOUTH CAROLINA AND THE EX-SLAVES. 

heaped up agonies, must be seen to be realized, and even 
then you feel tliat yon see, but the surface. One such, 
at the close of preaching, walked so meekly up upon the 
porch, to be joined to him with whom she had long lived 
under a sham marriage. Her dress was of black, with 
white apron, kerchief, and turban. But what a counte- 
nance ! She was there, yet not there. She saw the varied 
moods of those around her, yet saw nothing but the 
invisible. There was in her soul the depth of the 
^Niagara but its stillness, volumes of feeling, but no ex- 
pressed emotion — no dread of any bitterer cup, no shrink- 
ing from quaffing all— no censures, no regrets, no 
earthly anticipations, looking upon everything as if she 
looked through it, into God [we say it with utmost 
reverence]. But we will attempt no" more such feeble 
description, which only shows that we attempt what we 
cannot explain ; so sweet, gentle, pure, faithful ! Ah the 
Christ in the mortal ! She is forever clasped to our 
inner heart, in sincere admiration, and Christian love. 
Yet she, a field-hand, too, has been driven by those 
who cuuld no more comprehend her, than an infant, 
Gabriel. Yes, the dust, agonizing heat, fatigue, dying 
spirit, and body,is only outward, though it rends our soul to 
realize them. Doubtless she has suffered scourging when 
task was not done. This is inevitable, for there is such 
a strife between masters, and overseers, who shall get 
most done in a given time with a given number of slaves, 
that the moment the poor toiler reaches one point, more 
is added; results are published, and all are dared to 
exceed if they can. In all these notices, slaves are spoken 
of as if they were inanimate. Oh ye jewels of my Lord, 
subjected to such barbarity. . How he is just in your 
ease, mortal cannot see. But it shall appear before 
assembled worlds. 



TAMED LIOX — FUNERAL — SACRIFICE OF LIVES. 269 

Her husband had the real tamed-lion appcnrar.ee, of 
most burly men, who have excellent wives. One of our 

ladies attended the funeral of her child, and said, "I 
wept the whole time, to sec that mother, so tender, but 
without a tear. It seemed as if the fount of tears was 
dry. Yes, she was past all weakness, past her grief, so 
chastened, so quiet," But lest any doubt that tasks are 
increased if performed, we give the following as proof: 

Dr. Iteming, a gentleman of high respectability, re- 
siding in Ashland, Richland county, Ohio, stated to Prof. 
Wright, at New York city : 

"That during a recent tour at the South, while ascend- 
ing the Ohio River on the steamboat Fame, he had an 
opportunity of conversing with a Mr. Dickinson, a resi- 
dent of Pittsburg, in company with a number of cotton- 
planters and slave-dealers from Louisiana, Alabama, and 
Mississippi. Mr. Dickinson stated as a fact, that the 
sugar-planters upon the sugar coast in Louisiana had 
ascertained that, as it was usually necessary to employ . 
about tivice the amount of labor during the boiling 
season that was required during the season of raising, 
they could by excessive driving, clay and night, during 
the boiling season, accomplish the whole labor with one 
set of hands. By pursuing this plan they could afford to 
sacrifice one set of hands once in seven years ! He further 
stated, that' this horrible system was now practised to a 
considerable extent. The correctness of this statement- 
was substantially admitted by the slaveholders then on 
board." * 

The late Mr. Samuel Blackwell, a highly respected 

citizen of Jersey City, opposite the city of New York, 

and a member of the Presbyterian Church, visited many 

of the sugar plantations in Louisiana, and says : "That 

* Weld's " Slavery as it is," p. 39. 



270 SLAVERY IN SOUTH CAROLINA AND THE EX-SLAVES. 

the planters generally declared to him that they were 
obliged so to overwork their slaves, during the sugar- 
making season (from eight to ten weeks), as to USE 
THEM UP in seven or eight years. For, said they, after 
the process is commenced, it must be pushed without ces- 
sation, night and clay, and we- cannot afford to keep a 
sufficient number of slaves to do the extra work at the 
time of sugar-making, as we could not profitably employ 
them the rest of the year." * « 

Eev. Dr. Reed, of London, who went through Ken- 
tucky, Virginia, and Maryland, in the summer of 1834, 
gives the following testimony . 

" I was told, confidently, from excellent authority, that 
recently, at a meeting of planters in South Carolina, the 
question was seriously discussed whether the slave is 
more profitable to the owner, if well fed, well clothed, 
and worked lightly ; or, if made the most of. at once, and 
exhausted in some eight years. The decision was in 
favor of the last alternative. That decision will, per- 
haps, make many shudder. But to my mind, this is not 
the chief evil. The greater and principal evil is con- 
sidering the slave as property. If he is only property, 
and my property, then I seem to have some right to ask 
how I may make that property most available? 

Other testimony might be added. Southern news- 
papers have published the proceedings of Agricultural 
Societies, in which, after discussion, it had been agreed 
that the more profitable method was to " use up" a gang 
of Kegroes once in seven or eight years, and then pur- 
chase a fresh supply of the dealers. 

A terrible sacrifice of life arises from a change of 

O 

* Weld's " Slavery as it is," p. 39. 

-\- " Visit to the American Churches," by Drs. Reed and 
Mattheson, Vol. II., p. 173. 



SACKIFICE OF LIFE — MURDER TAST DESCRIPTION. 271 

climate. A writer in the New Orleans " Argus," of 1830, 
Bays : " The loss by death, in bringing slaves from a nor- 
thern climate, which our planters are under the necessity 
of doing, is not less than twenty-five per cent." 

Does not this make every buyer, and seller, a mur- 
derer ? Yea EVERY VOTER, WHO SUSTAINS SLAVERY ? 

But does any one find it difficult to realize the fact of a 
real life of every human soul above, and out of the body, 
or of an actual soul-life for which, or, its doings through 
the body, he is to be approved or condemned, in the 
great day of God, let him hold close converse with these 
dear people. Would we could describe it ! But it speaks 
out in every look and word, of many of the devoted, most 
vividly. It then, becomes as evident, that Massah's — 
that this government's power is only over the body as 
that it is light, at mid-day. It is just as evident, we 
say, but it is indescribable. In speaking of what they 
have undergone, they do not dwell unnecessarily upon it. 
You wonder at the soul's triumph, as at that of a martyr. 
The deep impression remains to reprove every future 
moment of life, and to aid to lift you out of earth's sor- 
rows, into the unseen. 

But hear the moan prophetic of the present dire time 
of war, of Thomas Jefferson, himself a holder of slaves : 

" When the measure of their tears is full ; when their 

GROANS HAVE INVOLVED HEAVEN ITSELF LN DARKNESS, 

doubtless a God of justice will listen to their DISTRESS." 
Ah ! he doth listen, and will avenge them, in the day 
that shall burn as an oven. The " standing and behold- 
ing," " consenting," " partaking " the fruit, is the actual 
sin, and will appear so in God's inflexible eternal judg- 
ment. Slaveholders, those in this city, dear as friends, 
voters, all, with tears, in his dear name, and fear, and 
presence, we cite you to his bar as murderers, if you per- 
sist in fosterino; it. 



CHAPTEE XLIX. 



ABSENTEES. 



However Lard the fate of the slave may m any case 
be, it is far harder for those, whose masters are habitu- 
ally absent. Therefore those ladies, gentle, and appa- 
rently amiable, those placid and would-be dignified, men, 
North, who own slaves, are the true tyrants. For, how- 
ever cruel the Master may be, he has some regard to 
life. The overseer often has none, or even enjoys the 
agonies, and death, of his hated victims, driving them 
often to desperate flights, resolved on liberty or death, 
as sung by Longfellow : 

" In the dark fens of the Dismal Swamp 

The hnnced nesro lay ; 
He saw the fire of the midnight camp, 
And heard at times the horse's tramp, 

And a bloodhoundis distant bay. 

"Where will-o'-the-wjsps and glow-worms shine, 

In bulrush and in brake; 
Where waving mosses shroud the pine, 
And the cedar grows, and the poisonous vine 

Is spotted like the snake ; 

" Where hardly a human foot could pass, 

Or a human heart would dare, — 
On the quaking turf of the green morass 
He crouched in the rank and tangled grass, 

Like a wild beast in his lair. 



"A poor old slave! infirm and lame, 

Great scars deformed his face; 
On his forehead he bore the brand of shame, 
And the rags that hid his mangled frame 

Were the livery of disgrace. 



SLAVES OF ABSENTEES — THE D.D.'s COURSE. 273 

"AH things above Were bright and fair, 

All things wore glad and free; 
Lithe squirrels darted here and tliero, 
And wild birds filled the echoing air 

With songs of liberty ! 

" On him alone was the doom of pain, 

From the morning of his birth; 
On him alone the curse of Cain 
Foil like the flail on the garnered grain, 

And struck him to the earth." 

A noted D. D, resident of Baltimore, when told Low his 
slaves had been worked, and suffered, threw himself into 
a chair, and wept convulsively. He could scarcely speak, 
or could not for a time, we cannot assert precisely, then 
he mourned, expostulated, plead, coaxed, was " willing 
to give up every slave if other members of his father's 
family would," entreated them to do so, but went 
North, again, leaving them, those poor members of 
Christ, for another year, in the same hands, as we are 
informed, by many witnesses, who all and separately, 
aver, that no slaves are treated more badly, for that is 
quite impossible ! He, too, is a man before whom hun- 
dreds of his brethren cringe meanly, and bend the supple 
knee, and would not venture a prayer for the oppressed, 
in his presence, lest he be wounded, or offended ! would 
far sooner quench the Holy Spirit, than his villainous 
hypocritical cant, and self-deception. 

Beside it is impossible that these absentees, however 
kind, and determined, should actually know anything of 
the real case. For the poor Colored people know that 
he will soon be away, and that the lesser dignitaries will 
visit any complaints from them with tenfold vengeance. 

One proof of this, has come to our knowledge. On a 
plantation where the bitterest tales were told us, the 

12* 



27-i SLAVERY JN S0ETH CAEOLLXA AND TIIE EX-SLAVES. 

moment tlie Master, a Union man, came, the Vv-elkin was 
made to ring with his praises. Why ? They were in his 
power, his irresponsible grasp, and had everything to 
fear. 

Cotton, loved in freedom, is hated in slavery. Every 
appearance in speaking of it, shows that it was detested. 
How could it be otherwise ? The more cotton the more 
anguish, the more deaths. Last year's experience, is all 
before the poor slave, its agonies, scourgings, deaths. 
The more it thrives, the more is to be picked. The only 
hope or help, is to dwarf it. And one who would not do 
it, were more or less than man. For however much 
there may be, not an extra hand will be provided. And 
how easy to dwarf it. For instance, now, in May, it is 
to be thinned, so as to leave two plants in a place. * How 
easy to leave the poorest, and to slight and injure them, 
in cultivation. How else can the very great difference 
in plants, in the same soil, be accounted for ? the wood 
of some, being variously large as a hen's egg, and small 
as a pipe-stem. Cotton, is the ever hated tyrant, of the 
South Carolina slave, his tormentor, his destroyer in the 
field and in the ginhouse. For in the latter place the toil 
ceases but about six hours, nightly, in hurrying seasons, 
on some plantations. The look of despair, with which 
women stood at the gin as at an instrument of torture, 
will never be effaced from our mind, and this, even when 
prospect of liberty, was bright. How astonishing that 
the}' should have been left to toil so hopelessly, so almost 
interminably, so excessively, wasted to a shadow. The 
only two, fleshy Negresses, we ever saw South, had each 
been made blind long years ago by the " foot cotton gin." 
Unwilling to leave masters! say some; such tales are 
totally unsustained by fact, as is everywhere proven. An 
illustration of this, is the case of the Virginian who was 



LOVED MASTERS INNUENDO INQUIRY RUSHED. 275 

boasting that none of his slaves would leave him, and, 
to prove it, lie called them into the presence of his guest, 
and said you are free and may go ! when lo ! every one 
expressed the greatest joy ! which soon changed his talk, 
to cursing them. 

LOVED MASTERS. 

The ex-slaves usually, speak kindly of their masters 
aiid mistresses. Often they dwell upon their various at- 
tractions. But by no slyness or innuendo, can they be 
led to say they want to see them. This is without one 
exception, so far as we can learn. True, pro-slavery per- 
sons assert that they have found some mourning for 
their masters, and wishing their return, or saying they 
were more comfortable with them. But, by all the 
skill we could use, we never found one. They express 
interest and tenderness, but push inquiry a little, and it 
will always be found, "it is for their good, for their 
souls." 

In short, all the love they have, is a love that could 
not be conquered by hard usage, unrequited toil, for 
long, weary days, and years, by torture and worse, by con- 
tempt. It is Christian love, for no other could have en- 
dured this crucible, and that love is for the souls of 
masters, as much, and precisely, as for the soul of a 
heathen. 

' One, who was dwelling with apparent pride upon her 
master's family, was asked : 

" You love them, don't you ?" 

" O, yes, Missus ; but I hate deir ways. I prays for 
dem ! O, I prays for dem!" lifting her poor, scarred 
arms, and hands, disfigured by severe labor. "I want 
deir souls sabed, but I neber want to see 'em, no mo', no 
mo'." 



276 SLAVERY IN SOUTH CAROLINA AND THE EX-SLAVES. 

The idea of bondage seems so identified with their 
masters, that while they bear, in some cases, a personal 
affection for them, still all exclaim with horror, at the 
thought of their coming back. 

Many say, " Massah would kill me ;" " Massah would 
shoot me ;" " Massah would hab me flogged to death !" 

Should they know they were coming, Tinder present 
circumstances, there would doubtless be hundreds of sui- 
cides among them. They never,' never speak of injur- 
ing " Massah ;" never, that we can learn, show any in- 
terest in understanding, or possessing, implements of 
death. Indeed, we have never heard the least allusion 
to them, or seen manifested a desire for them, although 
they speak very freely at times with, and before, us. 
But that they would "go to de bottom ob de riber," 
" would hang self," " would drown self," " might better 
drown self, than be whip' to deaff," " couldn't live to be 
slave again, couldn't !" are common and almost involun- 
tary remarks. 

Oh, as we see what our nation has done ! what ex- 
tremities these patient people have been driven to ! we, 
and all here, wonder daily, more and more, that the land 
has not sunk, that judgments, fire, or flood, have not 
swept the oppressor from this land. 



CHAPTER L. 

THE BITTERNESS OF SLAVERY. 

Though with tardy step 
Celestial justice come, that step is sure : 
Unerring is her bolt, and where it falls 
Eternal will the ruin be. 

Slaveholders, of the Border States, will yon can- 
didly read and weigh this feeble plea, by a fellow-sinner, 
who over gives most of yon the credit of doing better 
nnder the svstem than most Northerners could ? 

Slaveholder, slavegrower, apologist for this system 
which Channing pronounced to be " every vice height- 
ened by every meanness," we have no cause against 
you, no question, political or personal, to carry, no point 
to make against yon. We have, and do look at slavery 
through the eyes of love to you, to your true, best interest, 
your present and future good. We were prepared to love 
slavery more if we could, or to see more palliation for it, 
if palliation existed. We are trying to befriend you, 
and yours, our country ! as well as the slave. But as 
"right is right, since God is God," slavery cannot prosper, 
cannot produce prosperity. Many would do anything, 
suffer anything, for your benefit and salvation, of soul 
and body, whom you have long considered enemies. But 
only by putting away this sin can you prosper. 

How many thousands have determined, as you now 
are tempted to do, to make slavery better. But what 
has resulted ? Some few individuals, during one short 

277 



27S SLAVERY IN SOtTH CAROLINA AND THE EX-SLAVES. 

lifetime, Lave been relieved, and that but little — since 
the soul so longs for liberty — but the great tide of misery- 
has rolled on, and the best, are responsible, as they do 
most to keep it rolling. The best, among you, have 
testified against it. God has testified, against it, even 
under less light than you now have, by requiring his 
people to give it up, before they §ould die in peace. 
The early annals of Methodism in the South, are full 
of such instances, and so are others, more or less. And 
does God change ? Will you go into eternity, defy- 
ing him ? ISTo, my dear brother, my sister, you will not. 

All these stern, mighty influences, from infancy up, 
render it all but impossible for the slaveholder to look, 
rightly, at the question. Perhaps true divine grace only, 
can enable any one to do it. 

"Would you love to remember in heaven, that here you 
were a slaveholder ? True, you might have been kind, 
but in upholding the system, you become responsible ; 
for every crime of capture, middle passage, of slave- 
dealers, overseers, drivers, all ! all ! are upon you ! for he 
that offendeth in one point is guilty of all. The law of 
God is exceeding broad, and neither you, nor I, can narrow 
it. Neither will the opinion of the whole world, change 
it ; or its never, never ending penalty, or our award of 
eternal death, or life. And can our hearts endure, or our 
hands be strong, when God arises to judge the earth? 
We are not in heaven yet, whatever are our hopes. 
Where will you, and I, be in fifty years ? How weak are 
words — how awful, eternity, coming on to meet us, ine- 
vitably, int€7"mihable in its bliss or utter woe. 

SLAVERY DOOMED. 

We plead not with the slaveholder from apprehension 
that this system will exist any great length of time. It 



GUILT OF TRANSMITTING MDST ACT — NO ESCAPE. 270 

is reeling to its death. But if it is wrested from you, it 
leaves you with all the guilt of transmitting it to all fu- 
ture ages, for that was your effort. 

If you are prepared to care for slaves, are all so ? 
Will you support a system that throws helpless women, 
girls, and infants, into the irresponsible hands of those 
awful slavedealers, and you kiiow they are a part of the 
system, aud must exist while it exists ? 

JSTow, you, for one, must do this, or refuse. You can- 
not escape. You live ! you live, act, now ! must die ! 
must be judged ! and taken to the bosom of God, or of 
devils. Oh burst away from surrounding influences! Act 
for yourself, as alone, with God, as tou actually do. Oh ! 
forget this inch of time, think of eternity, and eternal 
obligations to others. Are you too proud to change ? in 
the face of friends, foes, the world ? Behold, the day 
of the Lord corneth, that shall burn as an oven, and all 
the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be 
stubble, and the day that cometh, shall burn them up, 
it shall leave them neither root nor branch, saith the 
Lord of Hosts. 

ISTever till now, have we imagined the awful bitterness 
of slavery. All the eloquence, of all the orators that 
ever existed, would not suffice to draw distinctly one of 
its features* as they actually exist. But while hatred for 
the system is intensified greatly by contact with it here, 
in every case we have known, without a single excep- 
tion, yet sincere commiseration for the slaveholder is also 
heightened. 

Pray think what an evil it must be, to be bound under 
that system, and trained to its support, by all the influ- 
ences of early impressions and education ; to believe in it 
during all the simplicity of unsuspecting childhood, the 
entire impressibility, and the strong biases of youth, 



280 SLAVERY IN SOUTH CAROLINA AND THE EX-SLAVES. 

to Lear, from their earliest years, revered men of great 
talent defend and extol the system, as divine in its origin. 
Christianizing in its operation, and beneficent in its re- 
sults, Lringing to their aid all the self-justifying pleas 
of ages, from forum, press, and pulpit, led on by the arch- 
deceiver, in the guise of an angel of light — what wonder 
that multitudes on multitudes, in meekly following such 
influences, have not yet detected their mistake. A de- 
ceived heart hath turned them aside — a heart deceived as 
to principles, opinions, tastes, and interests, and delivered 
over to the rule of passions, and ere reason began her reign, 
pledged for slavery with all its fiery nature ; in all loves, 
hatreds, fancies, and appetites, all intensified by the dog- 
mas of a power-giving, because perverted, religion. Was 
ever Prometheus more bound to his rock ? They are 
blinded by every influence that talented, learned and des- 
perate energies, and determinations, by all possible sophis- 
try through ages, could bring to bearpfor prejudices and 
judgments are handed down in slavedom, as they cannot 
be in a state of society, where free speech, and free light, 
help to correct all biases. Cases meet you on every hand 
where mere boys were unrestrained ! yea, led to cause 



* " Contrasting the condition of white dares in New-England with our 
slaves in the South, is like comparing Egyptian bondage with millennial 
glory." — Rev. J. G. Postell, of South Carolina. 

"Under this relation of master and slave, the two races have long 
lived in peace and prosperity.'' — Hon. J. C. Calhoun, of South Carolina', 
U. S. Senate. 1836. 

" Slavery is with us a parental relation.' - — Charleston Courier, S. C. 

ILLUSTRATION OF THIS SWEET "PARENTAL RELATION." 

" In case any persou shall wilfully cut out the tontrue, put out the eye, 
cruelly scald, burn, or deprive any slave of any limb, or member, or 
*hnll inflict any other cruel punishment, otherwise than by whipping, or 
bulling, with a horsewhip, cowskin, switch, or small stick, or by putting on 
irons, or confining, or imprisoning such slave, every such person, for every 
such offence shall forfeit one hundred pounds, current money." — Law of 
South Carolina." 



BOYS — TORTURE WHITE TRASH MAKING THEIR MARK. 281 

all manner of tortures, to train them, and to break the 
spirit of slave children, it is supposed. Oh! one must be 
here, to see the prints of the chains which have bound, 
from the very birth, these poor felloSv-sinners. 

What could have induced you, reader, had choice been 
possible, to have been born and reared under such influ- 
ences ? — no restraint, in many cases, upon a single pas- 
sion or action — what ? The wealth of the whole world ? 
Certainly not ; for were it possible for once to avoid sin 
and debasement in such circumstances, yet such a man 
must be miserable by an immutable law of our being. 

Said an officer, " I opposed slavery, when I came here ; 
on account of the blacks. ]S"ow I oppose it almost en- 
tirely on account of its awful effects upon the Whites." 

" Yes," said we, " how awful, every way, and for them 
to use every measure, and constant, intense effort, and 
influence to put poor Whites below Negroes, and teach 
their slaves to show that they despise them by every 
means. How awfully mean that is." 

" Well, all that is very true ; yet those are not the 
grounds upon which I now most oppose it. It is because 
it so imbrutes the masters. They, as a mass, are satis- 
fied with merely domineering, and glorying over the 
JS r egroes, and care not for improvement. Few, compara- 
tively, in their whole army can write. In a case of a 
large number of soldiers, all, or nearly every one, had 
to make their mark. Then there is not a respect in 
which the system does not paralyze ambition, and de- 
base them. Yes, I oppose the system now, solely from 
what I see of its effects upon Whites." 

jSTot always that the "White trash" is poor, but that 
he has no one to domineer over, puts him down. So 
it ever is, must, and will be, under slavery. 

How awful, to see a man, master of a house, head of a 



282 SLAVERY IN SOUTH CAROLINA AND THE EX-SLAVES. 

family, raving around, a madman. Yet this is the specta- 
cle often presented. ~No wonder that in the East Indies, 
not a slaveholder can he found who wishes the return of 
the system, much as Itiey clung to it. We do apologize for 
the slaveholder very much, all who can appreciate his real 
case, do. But is that a reason why he should still be 
placed in power ? Because I lost my right hand, in not 
the most guilty manner, is that a reason why I should be 
put to labor, absolutely requiring it ? The present race 
of slaveholders can never, never, be put to legislate in a 
republic, while slavery remains. Never ! It has been 
thought that their courses and manners in Congress, 
were owing to peculiar circumstances. "Well, there 
would always be circumstances leading to the same ex- 
hibitions-, while they are what they are. They have 
never learned subordination to rightful authority. No 
human being can teach it to them. With deep sorrow 
we say these things. It is the slave system, not them, we 
blame. But they are what they are, insubordinate, 
headstrong, traitorous. Then their children's, their 
country's good, requires that they be restrained. Yet it 
is for a few thousands of such blustering tyrants, that 
this immense loss of noble lives in our army, is sustained ; 
that the rights of four million Colored people must be 
sacrificed. For these eighteen thousand traitors, must 
everything pure in government be stained ? What guilt, 
must rest upon those who could, and do not, do away with 
it. What judgments upon their posterity to " the third 
and fourth generations." 

But, to go through life, subject to such a tyranny as 
slavery imposes. For a master, as to kindness, honor, 
truth, and all nobleness, must do just, and only ! as slavery 
will let him! ! to wear away youth, middle life, age, amid 
such passions, prejudices; variances with the great major- 



FEAR TO BREAK CHAINS DOOM IRREVERSIBLE. 283 

ity of the good, disgusting fellowship of the bad ; the pangs 
of disdain, suspicion, criticism, guilt ; the tear to break 
the chains which bind to slavery, even when it is n 
ardently desired; the stealthy, inevitable approach of 
the general judgment; the knowledge that "by thy 
works thou slialt be justified, and by thy works t 1m.il 
shalt be condemned;" the awful certainty that your 
doom will then be irreversibly fixed for all, all! eternity ! 
■ — to bear all this, year after year, through a life, thus 
slowly and painfully, yet surely and forever, slipping 
away, leaving eternal retribution — oh, it is awful ! aw- 
ful ! awful ! 



CHAPTER LI. 



UNSANCTTFIED INDIGNATION. 



The smallest pebble in the well of truth 
Has its peculiar meaning, and will stand 
"When man's best monuments have passed away. 

Willis. 

How weak is imsanctified i indignation ! True, the 
many, despise thieving, adultery, abusing helplessness, 
murder, evident soul destruction. But when all these 
are combined in their worst aspects in a system, called 
slavery, they stand aghast, at condemning it out and 
out. But the great fortress of slavery is anger. Into 
this, it ever runs, for not an advocate of slavery but will 
get angry at free speech against it. It seems to be the 
one magnet around which clusters all the imbecility, 
personal and political, of the nation. It is inadvertently 
treated as a sort of frenzy, as it is. The damage it has 
been to the morals, conscience, religion of the nation, 
can never be estimated. "Would that the pages that 
must record it could be forever blotted out. But no, the 
dire facts must exist, forever ! They may be forgiven. 
They can never, never be undone. 

Why shall another day be stained with this guilt ? 

Darkness visible enshrouds all government action 
upon the awful sin of slavery. Every step toward, the 
less* liberty of the poor bondmen, is acquiesced in, in si- 
lence. Every step, toward greater freedom, must be 
retraced. Tyranny is everywhere rampant, outspoken, 
overbearing; Liberty is cringing into silent corners, 



INFLUENCE MAS i hit BETKAYED BLASTED MANHOOD. '_' ■ 5 

ashamed of the holiest raid best principles, yea, of the 
law of love. 

How silent, too, is the pulpit, r. p icting the duty of 
the people, to see that we have a righteous government ! 
Some of the most decided in private conversation, use 
no intluence iir the pulpit against it whatever. One 
could not detect what were their sentiments. (), my 
Master, how art thou betrayed in the person of thy little 
ones ! by false, or fearful prophets. 

And where abettors of slavery might hate them, for 
clear speaking of truth, they only despise them for cow- 
ardice. If a principle is not right, pray give it up ; if it 
is, with pure heart, and as acceptable manner as possible, 
express it. 

We may have eminent precedents for all this ; but so 
have we precedents for everything that is wrong some- 
where. The public hungers for free speech, and no 
sooner does a minister begin to use it, than the multitude 
fly to him. Then he is called a sensation preacher, 
solely because the multitude, weary of platitudes, flock 
round him. Where is the cause of this war, of the 
deaths of all these noble men? There was principle, - 
there was conscience, there was truth, there was light, 
but lest some one should curl the lip in scorn, they had 
to be hidden. Lest some influential member should be 
displeased and turned into an enemy, the minister, with 
most noble exceptions, had to be silent, Yet his whole 
audience, knowing his principles, and that he ought not 
to be ashamed of them, must despise him in heart, how- 
ever they may flatter^ with their lips. 

BLASTED MANHOOD. 

But the direst evil slavery has brought upon the North 
5 not the thousands of millions it has, and will cost, 



2S6 SLAVERY IN SOUTH CAROLINA AND THE EX-SLAVES. 

not the suffering, not even the glorious deaths of noblest, 
bravest, dearest, officers and men. No. It is in the loss 
of manhood — of free, noble, honest out-speaking. This 
is the dire, dire loss. Mention slavery, for instance, at a 
promiscuous table. All is whist at once. Take those 
persons alone, and they will speak worthily of statesmen, 
of Christians ; but it was not prudent, best, good policy 
to speak those noble sentiments there, at table; some one 
would have been displeased. Some Pecksniff would have 
stroked down his villainous beard and necktie, and said, 
" Hem !" and his adherents, male and female, would 
have looked scared, and Murdstone would have said, 
" Be calm, be calm ; let those people be flayed alive, but 
be calm ; do not get excited." 

And this unmanly fear of speaking out, applies to all 
questions and subjects, so that conversations become 
nothing at all ; disgusting cringings, giving birth to Child- 
wives, and Amazons. But it seems, from its present mo- 
mentum, that the pendulum of national cringing has got 
to swing its full length in that direction, then, it will 
probably swing back. 

Now, a person should not be uncourteous. But he 
should have a pure heart, and just principles, and then 
fear not to show them clearly, with all possible charity 
for those who differ. Whether our national manners 
will ever be in dignity, and manliness, and truth, what 
they would, had not the vile whiffet slavery, been ever 
ready to bark and fly in one's face, is yet to be seen. 
Would it not be a pity if this nation should at last subside 
into, or even die^ of sneakishncss % 

There is no possible way of correcting these evils 
but to get rid of their parent — slavery. None ! and 
that which actually benefits nothing, but blasts every- 
thing good, once and forever put away, there is no limit 



BLASTS EVERYTHING — SELF- ADMIRING PHARISEES. 287 

^to the nation's rising in all that is wise, noble, and 
holy. 

We defy the whole world, to point out one respect in 
which true patriotism docs not cry out for the rending 
away of slavery, ere, in its anaconda folds, it crush us into 
one mass of putridity. - 

features of the times. 

When he maketh requisition for blood, he forgetteth not 
the cry of the humble. 

Birr of all the odious features of the times, the most 
odious, is, the self-admiring serenity with which many 
pharisees look upon the events of the day. What pat- 
terns of patience they are ! since self is not imperilled. 
How self-complaeently, can they say, "Providence" — 
almost blasphemed by their speaking of him — "is at work ; 
in the course of years, or of a few generations, this system 
will be abolished, or, gradual emancipation inaugurated, 
or at least be in process, toward inauguration." Kow 
these men, if actually realizing what slavery is, are as 
much meaner than the ignorant slaveholder, as can be 
imagined. If there is a class, in the world that ought to be 
driven fifteen hours, daily, or two, added to that, as is often 
the case, without food, because they were too exhausted, 
after the flogging of last evening, to grind, and cook it, 
and then, be permitted to sleep in thumb-screws, it is 
them. How long would they think the Christian world 
had better be, in liberating them ? and how great had 
the comfort, and despicable quiet, of a pharisaic world 
better be in contemplating their torture ? 

But there is a long, never ending ! Eternity ! for adjust- 
ment, though it may be feared that if their meanness is 



288 SLAVERY IN SOUTH CAROLINA AND THE EX-SLAVES. 

actually known, in perdition, there will be a rebellion 
against it, even there; and Satan himself will protest 
against such mean company. He, of course, does all he 
can to get more into his anguish, but he does not say, "1 
Will sit, and sing, in heaven, while you go down there." 
Neither does the true Christian. He goes weeping from 
house to house w T ith holy Paul, dies with ancient, and 
modern true apostles, and missionaries, does duties that 
otherwise had been impossible, as do thousands of ladies, 
for the sake of saving souls, or he dies with his Lord, in 
and by, perfect obedience. 

Or, like John Brown, he does something, for the 
enslaved. It may be wise or unwise, but it is the best 
his knowledge and " his circumstance allows." 

And when gradual emancipation is spoken of, he feels 
as if it were his own children, or parent, or wife, in 
bonds, and in suspense. He would then say, "if you bring 
not up Joseph, you will bring down my grey hairs, with 
sorrow to the grave." Oh, is there beneath the sun any- 
thing so odious, as a false counterfeit religion, that the 
more one has of it, the more is he shut up in self-com- 
placency, self-worship, and indifference to the sorrows, 
wants, and just claims of others ! 

But, can anything which comes down upon the soul of 
the philanthropic, the humanitarian, the Christian, part 
of our nation, as does the realization, of what slavery 
is, not be an evil, a mental incubus? Shall the Christian 
heart be pained, paralyzed, the Christian mind dwarfed, 
bv it 3 We appeal to the Government for release, for 
rescue. 

A Philadelphian said the subject of slavery has 
haunted my every waking moment for years. It is 
always in my mind. Who can measure this mental loss? 
Who imagine what strides this nation had made in mental 



MENTAL GREATNESS BLIGHT — SHELL — CUT CIRCLE. 2SD 

greatness, had it not been for tin's one blight? which 
just in proportion as one lias true, clear, mental and 
moral perception, is felt. We know there are hundreds, 
who can see nothing but expediency, with self in the fore- 
ground. They never lost a dinner over this, or any 
other humanitarian topic, as is evident at a glance, while 
another is absolutely wasted, almost to a skeleton, over it. 

But the subject of oppression is now an encircling 
magnet. ]S"o line of living thought, but leads to it, in 
some direction. But many from surroundings relin- 
quish the noble, manly, privilege, of freedom of speech, 
not touching or naming it. So back they spring 
into, and cramp themselves up in their shell of prudence, 
of nonentity, as to actual mental power, and true per- 
manent influence, to say nothing of true excellence. 

Mention a writer or speaker of any note, who never 
boldly cuts this circle. No one can do it. But thou- 
sands are minifying themselves for all time, yea, for all 
eternity, by a lack of bold manliness, in writing or 
speaking. Do not understand us to say, that by low 
cunning a writer or editor may not have a certain transi- 
ent influence. But to live now, and show a large, deep, 
strong mind, and large, pure, loving heart, and leave, or 
slight, or defer, or contemn, this subject, is impossible, 
utterly so ; and oblivion only awaits such efforts and 
writers. 

But the whole subject of slavery is a constant irritant 
upon the Northern mind, a sort of blight, or worm at 
the root — an undermining, weakening influence. The 
soul wearily cries out, " I do wonder if I shall live to see 
this world rid of slavery?" A world or a nation without 
slavery ! "What a joy ! a glory ! a rest ! a triumph ! 
Yes, the good are worried, wearied, weakened, over this 
constant pressure, of so great, so mean, so shocking, an 

13 



290 SLAVEKT IN SOUTH CAROLINA AND THE EX-SLAV ES. 

evil. The saying, "he is half crazed upon the subject of 
abolition," is not without foundation. True, it is not a 
fact; but that is owing, not to the horrible meanness of 
the irritant, or to any indifference in regard to if, but to 
"grace sufficient." Yet, the best minds of the nation are 
enchained, bound, retarded, by it. Yes, they are sickened, 
nauseated, enfeebled. True, all the powers of the man 
are aroused, at times, and his eloquence and depth are 
wonderful. But he settles back into that dire nauseated 
state, most antagonistic to great, free, deep, thought, so 
that, upon the whole, it effects a mental obstruction, if 
not partial paralysis. 

Now, do not understand us to assert that all are so 
affected. No, there are men, editors, professed Christians, 
who have Ions; been most serene over four millions suf- 
fering under our own flag, every loss, every indignity, 
oppression, brutality, that mean White men can inflict. 
And that serenity would be the same were there fifty mil- 
lions. Yes, upon the whole, they say, " the Bufferings 
of this class, are not lost, since they make us more 
grateful for our liberties." "Their toil," they continue, 
" is not quite lost, since it makes us realize our ease ; the 
fact that they are not allowed to lie down when sick, 
makes our own couch, our pillow, softer, or, what is the 
same, in effect, gives us a realizing sense of it." " How 
good it is," say they, " to have a sense of our mercies, 
and how could we have it, if all had them." And 
these, who mistake themselves for men because they 
wear men's clothing, and Christians, because they belong 
to churches, stroke their sleek heads, smooth down their 
low foreheads, parrot's noses, thin lips, and smoo.h 
beards, and pretty white cravats, straighten down their 
vests over their one comprehensive department, brush a 
little dust off the nether garments, kick ! at a — pebble, and 



TEE RESULT SATANIC SNEER THE DECEIVED. 291 

\ 

Bay, "Yes, slavery is an evil, but it is not without its 
benefits." We will not describe the secular editor, or 
him who can afford but one head, and that secular; the 
Daily, but who rolls slavery under his tongue, as compla- 
cently as his quid, never failing to give his darling a good 
word, and a lift, or, what helps it more, a sneer. We say 
we will not describe him, for the words which should do 
it, have need to 

" Come glowing- from the lips of eldest hell." 

Still, we will give him credit for not being a hypocrite, 
yes more, for not being ashamed of the lineaments and- 
works, of his Father, or to be known, as on the best of 
terms with him, as a most dutiful satanic son. 

Now, these men are far more slaveholders than those 
poor women and conscientious men South, who would 
sacrifice everything, had they the light, and energy, to 
be free from it; and who, if they knew the North, would 
be here in a trice. Yes, he is far more a slave-driver than 
those who t-eek death to get away from it, for his, is the 
mean despotism of the soul, not the dire rule and misfor- 
tune of birth, and legal oppression. Such, we say, are not 
injured, as they can see, by slavery. And with what 
patronizing complacency do they say, " Pity he should 
be so excited ;" '• good man, but excitable," while it only 
increases my serenity, makes me more grateful and sen- 
sible of our mercies. 

He could walk by the whole agonized, imploring four 
millions on his way to the holy sacrament, and it would 
not move one nerve, and only make the fount of tears 
dryer. 

lie can sit within hearing of this evil, and talk, and talk, 
of his enjoyments, his assurances that his soul is safe. 
He, were we about to say, not injured by slavery? He 



292 SLAVERY IN SOUTH CAROLINA AND THE EX-SLAVES. 

is dwarfed by it ! For in some of his best moments there 
comes light, which, being rejected, ha goes into actual 
darkness, though so gross, that he knows it not. 

The North, as a whole, has- so long yielded np for 
peace, principle, patriotism — or true patriotism, religion 
— or true, loving-neighbor-as-self religion, everything, 
that like a father that has demented himself in indulg- 
ing, and then trying to manage, a petted child, it seems 
utterly impossible for it to rise to the manly defence of 
liberty. That damage to the whole man from cringing, 
is from a natural, inevitable law. No man can say, " I 
will be base to-day, and noble to-morrow." He cannot say, 
'• I will cringe to-day, and stand erect to-morrow." If he 
take base mean policy, rather than suffer for the right, he 
must bear the eternal impress of it. So long has the 
nation bowed, for the sake of peace, to overbearing, 
blustering, sin, that its moral power to stand for the 
right seems gone. Too conscientious to take life, unless 
in actual battle, it sacrifices its own bravest sons. It 
cannot give up, even yet, that it cannot win over, by 
coaxing, the slaveholders. Oh, my Lord, who lovest the 
poor slave, where will all this end ? How do the rebels 
despise us — guarding their property, returning to certain 
torture their panting slaves, showing ourselves weak and 
sneaking, they regard us as the mean spaniel, that loves 
you just in proportion as you abuse him. The North 
has got to make the South respect her. Oh, divine Master, 
how easily could she do that, if she would only stand by 
her principles, by her religion, the Bible. 

Yea, she has got to maintain her own self-respect, which 
she is rapidly losing, while the South, by mere unity, and 
plotting is strengthening, in wickedness, is gaining. 

The Congress of 1862 has done nobly at last, six 
months oi- a year too late. Now, it seems, its excellent 



EXECUTIVE ACTION — MARYLAND^ EMANCIPATION. 293 

acts are to be null, for want of Executive action. Slavery 
is a taint that it seems nothing will extricate. Let a 
man but be born on slave soil, and his preference seems 
forever fixed, unless in a few most noble and magnani- 
mous souls. 

But, hush, complaining heart, there will noble men 
arise, perhaps, in the border States. Here is fame to be 
achieved greater than 

" Immortality in twenty worlds." 

Who will be the Luther ? the Washington ? the Wel- 
lington of America ? Some one that shall yet arise, and, 
from genuine inward worth, or some principle dearer 
than life, risk all, shall save all. 

An Emancipation Society arises in Maryland ! the 
first formed in the South, at Cambridge, a place which 
gained, a few years ago, some notoriety as the meeting- 
place of a convention of slaveholders, who attempted, 
but unsuccessfully, to initiate the passage of laws 

FOE THE REENSLAVING OF THE FREE NEGROES of the State! 

The county contained, in 1850, 14,595 whites and 4,2S2 
slaves, and ranks among the counties of the State in 
which the slave population is large. Here an Emancipa- 
tion Society lias been lately formed, whose members have 
adopted the following platform : 

'•Believing the institution of slavery to be detrimental 
to the moral and material interests of Maryland, and a 
serious impediment to the growth and development of 
her resources, and that the emancipation of the slaves in 
the State, and their colonization to Hayti, Liberia, or 
some other tropical country, would prove fruitful of 
blessings to ourselves and our posterity, we therefore 
form and constitute ourselves into a society organized to 
further, by all proper and lawful means, the objects 



291 SLAVERY IN SOUTH CAROLINA AND TILE EX-SLAVES. 

herein expressed, the owners of course to receive a fair 
compensation for their slaves." 

The non-slaveholders of the State outnumber tlie slave- 
holders by an enormous majority. They are an intelli- 
gent and prosperous body of men, who carry on their 
operations by using the labor of free negroes. It is in 
the power of this class of the citizens of. Maryland to 
effect emancipation themselves ; but they would find co- 
operation in this work from intelligent slaveholders them- 
selves. 

The address to the " working men " assumes boldly 
that but for slavery there would have been no rebellion, 
and that in order to the pacification of the country, the 
slave system must come to an end. A sharp rebuke is 
given to the practice adopted of addressing all the argu- 
ments for emancipation to the slaveholders, the import- 
ance of the working men of the State beino; all the time 
quietly ignored. " Look," says the address, " at the 
course of the emancipation papers in this State. They 
all, with one or two exceptions, seem to labor under the 
impression that the non-slaveholders have no interest in 
the matter whatever. Their arguments and appeals are 
addressed solely to the sixteen thousand slaveholders, 
%nd they take especial pains to have it understood that 
they advocate emancipation exclusively for their benefit, 
whom they evidently think, or by their actions indicate, 
have a patent right to decide all questions of State 
polity, while the non-slaveholders, who are mostly work- 
ing men, must quietly acquiesce in their decision. 
Surely it ought to be galling to our pride, and calculated 
to fire our hearts with burning indignation, to be thus 
treated with so little political consideration ; but, never- 
theless, we will have to ' grin and bear it ' as long as we 
uphold the institution of slavery." 



6LAVE LAWS— JONES AND SMITH VALUE OF LANDS. 295 

We have never seen the inequality of the operation 
of the slave laws better stated than in that address, in 
the following illustration : 

" Suppose Jones and Smith were neighbors, Jones 
owns a very vicious ox, which meets Smith on the coun- 
try road and gores him. One of Smith's slaves runs up 
with an axe and kills the ox. Jones' son happens along, 
and pilches into the negro for killing his father's ox, 
when the negro turns around and kills him, too. The 
negro is tried and convicted, and sentenced to be hung. 
Smith loses nothing, for the State pays him for his slave. 
But Jones, on the contrary, not only has to mourn the 
loss of a son, but his property is actually taxed to help to 
pay Smith for the slave that mvrdend him; and not 
only loses his ox, but is liable for damages for allowing 
him to run at large. And further, Jones was taxed the 
full value of his ox. Smith, on the contrary, although 
he valued his slave at $1,000, and received that sum for 
him from the County Commissioners, yet his assessable 
value was not over four hundred dollars, this being the 
highest sum fixed by law. What an admirable specimen 
of pro-slavery justice ?" 

jSTor could the effect of slavery upon the value of lands 
be better put, than in this paragraph : 

" According to the census of 1850, in the seven coun- 
ties of Pennsylvania bordering on Maryland, there 
were 1,788,558 acres of improved land, valued at $100,- 
711,032, or $5(5 31 per acre ; while in seven counties in 
Maryland bordering on Pennsylvania, there were 1,053,- 
1-12 acres of improved land, valued at $46,517,282 15, or 
only $11 17 per acre — a difference of $12 14 per acre, or 
a difference in the entire value of $12,785,113 88. In 
other words, it costs the farmers of those counties alone 
nearly thirteen millions of dollars to uphold slavery 



'290 SLAVERY IN SOUTH CAROLINA AND THE EX-SLATES. 

in Maryland : for slavery is the sole cause of the sreat 
disproportion in prices in the two sections." 

This is further made evident by other illitstkatioxs. 
Doubtless this Society will be the precursor of many 
more. This is one excellent fruit of this dire war, this 
freedom of speech in Maryland. If the non-slaveholders 
will but assert the nobility of their former course and their 
cause fearlessly, and rise in their might, and in the dig- 
nity of freemen, patriots, and Christians, the work will 
be soon done, and those States will soon become rich. 
Then, they will no more than New York city, wish to 
colonize their Colored. See the result in every place that 
has emancipated, in Barbadoes, for instance, lands haye 
nearly, or quite doubled their value. 

Jay upon Colonization says : 
"It certainly does not follow that a system must be bad, 
because bad men support it ; but it does follow, that 
when mobs and infidels espouse a particular object, it is 
because that object is recommended to them by other 
than religious considerations. Yet colonizationists are 
fond of representing their Society as a religious institu- 
tion ; and the ministers of the Gospel are earnestly 
urged to preach annual sermons in its behalf. 

That multitudes of religious men belong to the So- 
ciety is not denied, but the participation of such men in 
an object, does not necessarily render it a religious ob- 
ject : otherwise the slave trade was a Christian com- 
merce, because John Newton was a slave-trader ; and 
free-masonry must be a holy fraternity, since it can 
boast the names of more srood men than were ever en- 
rolled in the rants of colonization. But in what sense 
can the Society be termed a religious one? It is not 
professedly founded on any one principle of the Gospel 
of Christ. It exercises no one act of benevolence toward 



REMOVING NUISANCES — HARDENING CONSCIENCES. 297 

the free blacks in this country ; and in transporting them 
to Africa, it is, by its own confession, removing nuis- 
ances. It takes no measures to Christianize Africa, but 
landing on its shores an ignorant and vicious population. 
It employs no missionary, it sends no Bible, and it can- 
not point to a single native, converted to the faith of 
Jesus through its instrumentality. On the contrary, may 
we not, in reference to the fa<-ts disclosed in this Afri- 
can Colonization, affirm, without the imputation of bi- 
gotry or prejudice, that the general influence of the So- 
cietv is decidedly anti-Christian ? We have seen that it 
practically tends to the debasement and persecution of 
the free blacks ; to the hardening of the consciences of the 
slaveholders, and to the indefinite continuance of slavery. 

The objects of the Society, as stated in the declarations 
of its orators, are of such vast importance, and such 
god-like benevolence, that it is no wonder good men 
have been so dazzled by the gorgeous visions presented 
to their imaginations, as to have omitted to scrutinize 
the machinery by which these visions are to be realized. 

But their visionary ideas respecting colonization cannot 
be better answered than in the words of "Wilbcrforce : 

" Our objections to it are briefly these ; while we be- 
lieve its pretext to be delusive, we are convinced that its 
real effects are of the most dangerous nature. It takes 
its root from a cruel prejudice and alienation in the 
Whites of America, against the Colored people, slave or 
free. This being its source, the effects are what might 
be expected — that it fosters and increases the spirit of 
caste, already so unhappily predominant — that it widens 
the breach between the two races — exposes the Colored 
people to great practical persecution, in order to force 
them to emigrate : and finally is calculated to swallow 
up and divert that feeling which America, as a Christian 

13* 



298 SLAVERY IN SOUTH CAROLINA AND THE EX-SLAVES. 

and a free country, cannot but entertain, that slavery is 
alike incompatible with the law of God, and the well- 
being of man, whether of the enslaver or the enslaved. 
We must be understood utterly to repudiate the princi- 
ples of the American Colonization Society." 

Hear the present sentiments of the distinguished Z. 
Macauley, Esq., M.P. : "The unchristian prejudice of 
color, which alone has given birth to the Colonization 
Society, though varnished over with other more plausi- 
ble pretences, and veiled under a profession of Ciiristian 
regard for the temporal and spiritual interests of the 
Negro, which is belied by the whole course of its rea- 
sonings, and the spirit of its measures, is so detestable in 
itself, that I think it ought not to be tolerated ; but on 
the contrary; ought to be denounced and opposed by all 
humane, and especially all pious persons in this country." 
— Letter, 14:th July, 1833, to Mr. Garrison. 

For a quarter of a century, William Allen-, a London 
Quaker, has been prominent in every good work, and his 
name is familiar to all acquainted with the great catho- 
lic institutions of England. This eminent and zealous 
philanthropist thus writes : " Having heard thy exposi- 
tion of the origin and main objects of the American 
Colonization Society, at the meeting on the 13th inst., at 
Exeter Hall, and having read their ownprinted documents, 
I scarcely know how adequately to express my surprise 
and indignation, that my correspondents in North Amer- 
ica should not have informed me of the real principles 
of the said Society ; and also that Elliott Cresson, know- 
ing as he must have known the abominable sentiments 
it has printed and published, should have condescended 
to become its agent." — Letter, 15th of 1th month, 1S33. 

Mr. Buxton, the successor of Mr. Wilberforce as the 
parliamentary leader in the cause of abolition, thus ex- 
presses himself: "My views of the Colonization Society 



WILBEEFORCE ON COMPELLED COLONIZATION. 299 

you are aware of. The}' do riot fall far short of those 
expressed by my friend Mr. Cropper, when he termed 
its objects diabolieal." — ^Letter of July 12t/i, 1S33. 

Almost daily do we hear of colonizationists awaking, 
as from a dream, and expressing their astonishment and 
regret at the delusion into which they had fallen. 

To the Christians we would now address ourselves, 
and ask, Have we not proved enough to induce you to 
pause, to examine, and to pray, before you longer lend 
your names, and contribute your funds to the purposes 
of colonization ? Do no secret misgivings of conscience 
now trouble you ? and are you perfectly sure that in 
supporting the Society, you are influenced by the pre- 
cepts of the Gospel, and not by prejudice against an 
unhappy portion of the human family ? If, on a full 
investigation of the subject, yon discover that coloniza- 
tion is not what you believed and hoped it was, re- 
member that it is your duty to obviate, as far as pos- 
sible, by a frank and open declaration of your opinion, 
the evil your example has done. Be not ashamed, be 
not slow to follow Wilberforce in entering your protest 
against the Society. If that Society leads to the de- 
gradation and oppression of the poor Colored man — if 
it resists every effort to free the slave— if it misleads the 
conscience of the slaveholder, you are bound, your God 
requires you to oppose it, not in secret, but before the 
world. Soon will you stand at the judgment seat of 
Chri&t : there will you meet the free Negro, the slave, 
and the master,— take care lest they all appear as wit- 
nesses against you.* 

But Hayti now opens her rich bosom with the noblest 
of governments, and invites the Colored. Many of the 
ambitious will seek her shores, will rise to eminence there. 
But to urge them away, is most unmanly, unchristian. 

* Jay's Works. 



300 slavery in south carolina and the ex-slaves. 

a late report to parliament from the governor op 
Jamaica says : 

" I look upon it as a settled point, that the great mass 
of the emancipated population and their descendants are 
betaking themselves to the cultivation of the soil on their 
own account, either as a source of profit, or as the mere 
means of subsistence." "There can be no doubt, in fact, 
that an independent, respectable, and, I believe, trust- 
worthy, middle class is rapidly forming; and I assert my 
conviction, that if the real object of emancipation was to 
place the freeman in such a position that he might work 
out his own advancement in the social scale, and prove 
his capacity for the full and rational enjoyment of per- 
sonal independence, secured by constitutional liberty, 
Jamaica will afford more instances of such gratifying 
results than any other land in which African slavery 
once existed." 

" It would be difficult to conceive," says the London 
Review, " a wider contrast between the condition of 
things as the planters imagined they would be — the idle- 
ness and debauchery, the ruin and desolation, they were 
sure would follow the emancipation of the slaves — and 
those features of rural industry and domestic comfort, 
improving agriculture and growing opulence, awak- 
ened INTELLIGENCE AND MORAL PROGRESS, which are 

exhibited in the emancipated colonies. Slavery was the 

DESTROYER J EMANCIPATION IS the RESTORER. The One 

tended invariably, through its whole history, to impover- 
ishment and ruin ; the other has awakened industry and 
confidence, and laid, broad and deep, the foundation of 
lasting prosperity and wealth." 

But it is alleged that the emancipated Negroes are idle 
and unwilling to work. How, then, comes it, that among 
the people who are libelled as "squatters" on the land 



GREAT INCREASE 3F PROPERTY IN JAMAICA. 301 

of others, there arc GO, 000! families all housed in their 
own cottages ; that they possess not less than 5,000 small 
sugar mills for manufacturing their own produce; that 
the accumulated property of the Negroes of Jamaica, 
since emancipation, amounts to £2,358,000! and three- 
fifths of all the cultivated land in that island is the bond 
ji<le property of the Colored people — bought and paid 
for by their own industry ? Is it a mark of indolence 
and improvidence that the Negroes of Jamaica have 
nearly £50,000 in the savings bank, and of their apathy 
that they support their own religious institutions at an 
expenditure of many thousand pounds, besides contribut- 
ing to the aid of foreign missions ? 

EMANCIPATION IN THE WEST INDIES. 

In 1S33 the act received the royal assent, which de- 
creed that slavery should terminate throughout the 
British empire, but provided for its gradual cessation. 
From the first of August, 1834, there was to be an 
apprenticeship of six years for the prsedial and four 
years for the non-prredial slaves, all under six years 
of age being declared entirely free on that day. And 
the change which transformed hundreds of thousands of 
slaves into apprenticed laborers was not only effected 
without bloodshed or disorder, but in all the colonies the 
behavior of the people was most exemplary. Two } r ears 
after, there were such revelations of the violations of the 
new act, and the cruelties practised by the planters, 
that the British public demanded, with one voice, that 
the apprenticeship system should be done away with. 
Parliament passed a bill for remedying the defects of exist- 
ing laws, and providing increased protection for Negroes. 
But, happily, the legislatures of the several islands 



302 SLAVERY IN SOUTH CAROLINA AND THE EX-SLAVES. 

resolved on immediate emancipation; and even Jamaica, 
which long held out, was obliged to follow the example 
of the other colonies. On the first of August, 1836, the 
Negroes of the West Indies became a free people. The 
great change was effected without the slightest difficulty 
or disturbance. Even in Jamaica, where the slaves had 
been most cruelly treated, the Governor refused to call 
out a single soldier, or employ even a policeman. " The 
influence of the religious teachers, the moral restraints, 
and the loyalty to the sovereign,"' he records, " sufficed 
to preserve perfect order in the midst of this great social 
revolution, and 800,000 slaves became freemen without a 
single breach of the peace, or the slightest sign of distur- 
bance." 

The whole tone of reliable reports from the whole 
South has been the same. Nothing seems to exasperate 
the hater of the poor. Negro more than their acknow- 
ledged amiability, energy, and ability in whatever place 
they are put, and their invincible patience under every 
provocation. We give the following as a specimen : 

A well-known citizen of New York, writes as follows, 
under date of Hilton Head, May 29th, of the Colored : 

" Since 1 have come South, my views in reference to 
the Negroes have been very much modified. I am con- 
vinced that they are not afflicted with the disease of lazi- 
ness more than their white brethren — only give them an 
object for which to labor. I am now visiting on a plan- 
tation where the few Negroes that are on it have had 
neither overseer nor master for the last three months ; 
and they have planted as much corn, and potatoes, and 
rice as the same number of white men would have done 
with the same means ; for, till lately, they had neither 
horse, mule, nor plough. All the first cultivation was 
done by hand, and with the hoe. They have now been 



NORTHERN FARMERS EQUALLED. 303 

furnished with a horse and a mule, I believe by the 
Government. They are working most faithfully day by 
day. No Northern farmers are at work earlier in the 
morning or later in the evening. I am an early riser, 
and when I first look out, I generally see the Colored 
men, women, and boys going out to the fields, or already 
there ; and they do not come in till sundown, or even 
after. In view of their former habits and customs, this 
is not what I expected, short of twenty or thirty years — 
to see them labor with all the earnestness and steadiness 
of old Pennsylvania farmers. I am convinced there will 
be no difficulty in managing the Negroes in a state of 
freedom, only if the management be kind and judicious. 
This is the grand secret to make them useful to others 
and to themselves. The Negroes on this plantation have 
been peculiarly favored in the character of the soldiers 
encamped in the vicinity, who are mostly the sons of 
farmers in Central Pennsylvania. They have simply 
treated them kindly, reciprocating services and pleasant 
words, talking with them about the soil, its productions, 
cultivation, etc., and suggesting such Northern improve- 
ments as they could understand. The result is, that here 
is a company of Negroes as truthful, orderly, industrious, 
and kind as can be found of the same number of Whites 
anywhere. I wish I could say that all the Government 
agents were fit, by temper and principle, to discharge 
their duties properly, or even fairly, toward these peo- 
ple, but many are not." 



CHAPTER LII. 



hunter's puoclamatiost. 



Riding out to an appointment upon Sabbath morning 
in Beaufort, our carriage is stopped by a noted civilian, 
a millionaire, with " tell Mrs. French that General Hun- 
ter has declared emancipation in South Carolina, Geor- 
gia, and Florida." We clap hands, and praise the Lord, 
over and over. We say to our Colored coachman, " How 
do you feel ?" 

" Most beautiful, Missus ; onspeakable !" 

" But you don't say Hallelujah as I do." 

" I am burning inward, madam." 

Passing groups upon verandas and at corners, we 
exclaim, " You are free !" Clapping our hands, they 
clap in return. 

" Now we will all serve the Lord better !" 

" O, yes, Missus ! must do 'at now !" and " no 'scuse 
now!" ''time enough now!" "too bad if don't now!" 
" too mean if don't do well !" 

How affecting it was to see the tears fall from manly 
faces, as the minister, in the most unexciting manner, 
told them of the fact, and to see the lips move in 
praises. One dear aged aunt, after the close of the 
meeting, raising her hands, cried : " Now Lord lettest 
thou thy servant depart in peace, for mine eyes have 
seen thy salvation, more'n I hoped to see, do I all'ays 
prayed for it. Now I ready to die ! Praise Jesus !" 

All rejoiced in the most warm and dignified manner, 
and one, too full to speak, when asked how he felt, 



304 



EMANCIPATION — SABBATH EVE — NEARER TO NATURE. 305 

straightened up, and dropping arms by his side, energe- 
tically said, v 'l feel like a man, like a man." Oh. it was 
a glorious sight ! 

It is Emancipation Day Sabbath eve. "We are 
too glad, to read, or sing. Even one of Beecher's ser- 
in ms will not do to-ni^ht. We mast think and rejoice. 
We step out upon the upper veranda, broad and high, 
and extending around three sides of the house. We are 
nearer to nature since the proclamation, or she takes us 
into her secrets more, because man is going to be just 
to man. There ! the sun knows it ! See him gaze 
through that live-oak, all a-glow with golden red, yet 
so chastened, that we can look him full in the face ; and 
the whole firmanent is reddening with joy. And there, 
just above the oak, at the opposite corner, is the moon, 
full-faced, brighter than we ever saw her, or by daylight, 
her features clear, and all on a broad grin. The black- 
birds carry on their family quarrels, as usual, in the live- 
oaks, but to-night they actually seem to have a good ob- 
ject. Never did the tide sweep up so merrily, and lap 
the very highest mark so joyfully, as it nearly touches 
our yard. We thought we would cool off a little, and 
sent for some of the rejoicingly advancing water, and 
took a sea-bath in our chamber. But no! our excite- 
ment is only intensified. " What a land this will be, 
under freedom !" is upon every lip, and those who, one 
month since, saw little in South Carolina, are entranced, 
and beginning to talk of living here. The hum of con- 
versation rings from every part of the lower veranda. 
All are too joyous for reading, or even closet exercises. 
Yes, joy, thanksgiving, are the appropriate duties of this 
emancipation Sabbath. God bless General Hunter! is 
upon every lip, and Oh, how the Colored do bless and 
pray for him ! And he needs it. This emancipation act 



30G SLAVERY IN SOUTH CAROLINA AND THE EX-SLAVES. 

is but the commencement of the war, it is our nation's 
Declaration' of Independence, and the victory will fol- 
low. 

Oh ! if every man would press around those who take 
these initiatory steps, as yon tide-waves press against every 
elevation ! But what is human sustainment or applause. 
To-morrow morn those waves will be gone, a dead waste 
of sand, only, will be there. Bat there is that, in old 
ocean's heart, that will send them up again rejoicingly. 
So in the hearts of these noble men, there is, and will 
be, a strength that shall overmaster all things, and make 
the low mud of pro and anti-slavery contention, one 
broad, smooth sea of freedom. 

the choristers of freedom. 

Last evening, first, after the proclamation by General 
Hunter, riding past a marsh, one of these singers cried 
out, " Freedom ! freedom ! freedom !" Another with a 
deeper bass, cried out, " Let it abound ! let it abound ! 
let it abound !" And a little freedom shrieker, like our- 
self, a little afraid that there would be some catch in 
legislation, cried intensely, "Explicit! explicit! ex- 
plicit !" "While a little politician, scared, and hidden by 
bushes, cried, "Quit! quit! quit! quit!" as if he would 
overpower everything. This stirs up the poor, faithful, 
adversity bird, ever singing in the night, who now com- 
mences, " Quit who will ! quit who will ! quit who will I 1 ' 
The dark bird upon the tree-top cries, " Craw ! craw ! 
craw !" Yes, he would like compromise, or reconstruc- 
tion, anything to get a fill of carrion, and provide for it, 
in future. But a sweet voice comes up from the meadow, 
" You can't deceive me! you can't deceive me !" While 
the most honest and loving of birds, cries up to the 



CHORISTERS — THE LIGHT FROM WASHINGTON. 307 

screaming politician, " No more quit ! no more quit ! 
uo more quit!" But the politician goes on, as for 
the last century, " Quit ! quit! quit!" anything but pro- 
gress for him. As we return, the fife, bugle, drum, all 
seem inspired, and soldiers stand more erect, with more 
musical walk, and look a joy unwonted, for most of 
them are free to say that " every life is a sacrifice to 
slavery," that " it is the cause of all they sutler." Holy 
song rises from the African church, and reaching' home, 
all is of a hum of joy. All nature joins the anthem. 
"We know not how Hunter's proclamation may fare. But, 
it is a step that no human power can ever retract, in ef- 
fect, at lea- t. 

Our own hearts sav, '• Glorv be to God in the highest, 
on earth peace, good will toward men ! all men !" 

THIS LAXD IS TRANSFORMED. 

The President's proclamation brought dawn, the eman- 
cipation in the District, light, the prospects from glowing 
official utterances, and Hunter's proclamation, sunshine. 
Everything is renewed and illumined with the light 
which comes from Washington, freedom. The boughs of 
the splendid live-oaks and sycamores bow their joy grace- 
fully to each other, every leaf sparkling with delight. 
Yon white sail on the river speaks mercy ! not slavery, the 
waters ripple in gladness at the multitudes of barks that 
shall use, and adorn them, instead of now, very seldom a 
poor boat rowed by broken-hearted slaves. Soldiers and 
officers wear an exultant look, as if to say, "I know what 
we are about now." " AVe suffer for an end, worth v of 
death now." Multitudes are saying " I think my home 
will be in the South," where none said it two months 
ago. And what is remarkable, none of them feel that the 



SOS SLAVERY IN SOUTH CAROLINA AND TTIE EX- SLAVES. 

Colored people will be at all in their way, so agreeable, 
so necessary do they become in this climate. All say, 
" These plantations cut up smaller giving the Negroes 
homes of their own and land surrounding them, would 
employ and sustain twice the number of hands with pro- 
per management." One, a judge, says, " there is land 
enough wasted on every plantation to sustain ten families." 
Masses of timber are rotting. Live-oaks that ought to 
bring hundreds, lost. Oysters good, a part of the year 
swelling out of the water like reefs of coral. Lands 
cleared, lying for years covered with underbrush, saying 
to the beholder, "we are cursed." Ornamental build- 
ings lost for want of paint ; fruit trees running to shoots 
rather than fruit ; roads travelled fur 200 years, in which 
the poor animal draws a light load with incredible gasp- 
ing, sweating and loss of strength, from the knee-deep 
sand which gives him no foothold and impedes his wheels, 
where free labor will put roads, of planks at least, in six 
months. Ladies, going blocks around to a crossing place, 
rather than plunge into deep sand to cross the streets. 
"We are no financiers and see not hundreds of wastes that 
such would see, yet so much is obvious even to us. Then 
this land wants everything, everything to eat, drink, wear, 
use, even with its present inhabitants. "What would it be 
with such a population as will soon be here ? And it 
will want and have the ISTesro. The sun is life to him 
which is death to the "White man. "The whole secret of 
health here," said a learned military officer long accli- 
mated, South, " is to keep out of the sun. Do that on the 
healthy shores, and the evening air is innoxious." 

The Colored, in freedom, will not hoard, but spend 
money. They will dress, and ride, in good style. The 
table and house, will be secondary, usually. Imagine the 
trade set in motion the moment they get wages. What 
brisk market for everything conceivable. 




CHAPTER Lin. 

CAPTURE AND PASSAGE. 

Their speaking of homes and of their capture, in Africa, 
is heart rending. An aged grandmother said, " The 
White men came round, so kind, and sociable, so loving, 

" Hark ! from the ship's dark bosom, 

The very sounds of hell ! 
The ringing clank of iron — 

The maniac's short, sharp yell! 
The hoarse, low curse, throat-stifled — 

The starving infant's moan — 
The horror of t breaking heart 

Poured through a mother's groan !" 

WlIlTTtER. 

came in our houses, lounge around, praise us, see our 
dances, all pleasant, eat with us, invite us all on board their 
ship to have a feast and dance. We all go, so happy. Dey 
'pear so kind, and so good. Dey get seven hundred on 
board, then while we dance, 'ey sail. Then, Oh ! how we 
cry. Dey git pistol, shoot some 'at would get over. Oh, 
Lord, how awful ! Then all crowded in little place. 
Some cry self to deff. Awful sick. Most quarter die. 
Dey make us come up, jump and jump. Some dies up 
dere. See sister put ober, dead. God help me pray ! 
So come to 'is hard country. See home no mo'." 

809 



810 SLAVERY IN SOUTH CAROLINA AND THE EX-SLAYE8. 

Gustavus Yassa, under like circumstances, says: 

"What tumultuous emotions agitated my soul, when 
the convoy got under sail, and I, a prisoner on board, 
now without a hope ! 1 kept my eyes upon the land, in 
a state of unutterable grief, not knowing what to do, 
and despairing how to help myself. While my mind 
was in this situation, the fleet sailed on, and I lost sight 
of land. In the first expression of my grief, I reproached 
my fate, and wished I had never been born. I was 
ready to curse the tide that bore us, the gale that wafted 
my prison, and even the ship that conducted us ; and I 
called on death to relieve me from the horrors I felt." 

Oh, what a prelude is all this, to every loss, every sor- 
row, every agony. My country ! what hast thou done ? 
or suffered to be done ? Is there repentance ? or shall 
we, as a nation, forget our sin, and ask so selfishly, 
" what is for self's interest?" that God shall consider us 
not worth preserving ? Some awfully grand, or gloomy, 
future is before us. Yv T e must glorify the grace, or the 
wrath of God, uncommonly. He hath not so exalted us 
for a common destiny. This nation cannot have two inte- 
rests — one for the North, another for the South. Every 
feature of nature, of brotherhood, forbids it. The South 
hates with the dire hatred of a brother, not the cool 
aversion of a stranger. But in the prayers and exertions 
of the righteous, there is hope, through God. 

Still inevitable destiny seems to attend the conscientious 
to sneak at some time, to act, not openly and frankly, but 
politically, at some period, and the worst of it is, it is 
just when he is most needed. So when the whole na- 
tion was at a glowing heat, at the firing upon Fort 
Sumter, those who had despised that course, said, " Now 
let's whist," and " Let the anti-slavery sentiment grow." 
Just as if the smith's iron would grow into a chain. 



IIEROES, EDITORS, SENATORS — SAVAGES RESUSCITATED. 311 

No, they should Lave moulded the seething mass, not 
suffered it to cool into an impervious crust. There 
never been such a moment since it, for moulding the 
public mind, the firing the public heart. And yet there 
have been moments, as when the noble Ellsworth fell, 
when Baker and Lyon, and when "Winthrop and Perry 
fell, when it seemed that some who have a very high esti- 
mate of their being gigantic '"oaks," in the literary world, 
might have thought the occasion sufficient for their great 
powers. And some beautiful sentences, yes, articles did 
flow forth, and some stanzas. But where is the mere 
literary man, that has followed up the subject, with stroke 
after stroke, to form and. weld public sentiment ? They 
ought to toil as hard, if need be, to do this, as those poor 
soldiers in the trenches, or upon the battle -field. True, 
magazines have ci >ntained some fine articles. But where is 
the Johnson of our anti-rebellion war? Our Ilampdens 
and. Sidneys we have. Our Sumners, Harlans, Lovejoys, 
Chandlers, etc. But where, in all colleges, is the Luther, 
that nails his great truths to the posts and doors? We 
have most noble editors — deep is the gratitude of the good 
for them. How have they fought. But the heart could 
weep when it feels how they have been permitted to stand 
alone. Most prize, but what magazine speaks nobly for 
them, in just, lengthy, able articles, honorable to them, 

iberty, and our nation ? It is noble for a nation to love to 
pxalt writers of the living present. England knows to 
:lo that. But America loves to show her acuteuess by 

owering hers. 

Never did nobler men live than some who have graced 
muriate Congress. Never were nobler sentiments uttered 

n a legislative body. Yet few magazines or reviews 
mow it ? "Were it not wiser, than to go back and rc- 

uscitate some semi-savage, who, like many old philoso- 






312 SLAVERY IN SOUTH CAROLINA AND THE EX-SLAVES. 

. 9 -- 
pliers, -would not be tolerated now. Is a man that suf 
fers mentally, all that mortal can, for a great truth, not 
to be delineated ? May he be picked to a skeleton, by 
the meanest raven that ever said "craw," and whose 
weapons he will not stoop to use, and none regard it? 
What mere literary man will deserve mention, as a great 
aid, when the history of this rebellion is written ? Editors 
there will be, lecturers, legislators, ministers of Christ, 
but what literary man is felt weekly, Whittier, excepted ? 
And surely his muse ought to favor him, and us, oftener. 
Such men should toil as in the war, and see their influence, 
upon the public daily, renewed and deepened. There are 
others, whose rare articles just show what they might do. 
Do we go too far ix praise of the Colored in this 
work. Let facts speak. Take the city of New York. 
Where are your Colored beer gardens, theatres, free 
lunch, and free concert rooms, and gambling, drinking 
and other dens ? Where? When do you see a police- 
man having one in custody? Old residents answer, never. 
Where do you see the Colored making themselves terri- 
ble to the timid as drivers, or in cars by untidiness ? 
When strutting along, cigar in mouth, the very per- 
sonification of sensuality, or begging? But visit their 
churches. You shall wonder that there are so man}', 
and two-thirds of them throughout the whole country, 
are consistent church members. Visit their schools, 
you shall be amazed at the number, when you so very 
seldom, or never, see a Colored child at play in the 



streets 



How painful to close a volume, when so much remains 
to be said. But if the Holy Spirit deign to use it, 
little is effectual. 



